Academic

Kohn on the Constitutionality of Age Discrimination

By Lawrence Solum

Nina A. Kohn (Syracuse University - College of Law) has posted Rethinking the Constitutionality of Age Discrimination: A Challenge to a Decades-Old Consensus (UC Davis Law Review, Vol. 44, No. 1, 2010) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

The consensus in the legal academy and in the courts is that the window of opportunity for bringing a successful equal protection challenge to age discrimination closed decades ago. This Article challenges that conclusion by showing how current Supreme Court precedent creates an opportunity for certain forms of age discrimination to be found to violate the Fourteenth Amendment?s equal protection guarantees. In doing so, this Article calls into serious question legislation that uses age classifications in ways that undermine older adults? important rights. For example, it challenges the permissibility of elder abuse legislation that limits the informational and substantive privacy rights of persons once they reach an advanced age. By demonstrating the new viability of a form of legal challenge long presumed to be unproductive, this Article outlines potential legal strategies for those who would challenge age discrimination in the courts. It also warns policymakers that the courts may refuse to tolerate the cavalier use of age-based classifications.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on December 21, 2010 (boomark / email).