2022 Bluebook Workshop

Exercise
TEXT: EMPLOYMENT LAW — AGE DISCRIMINATION — SEVENTH CIRCUIT HOLDS THAT THE ADEA DOES NOT PRECLUDE § 1983 EQUAL
PROTECTION CLAIMS. — Levin v. Madigan, 692 F.3d 607 (7th Cir. 2012).

1 2
Section 1983, which “authorizes suits to enforce individual rights under federal statutes as well as the Constitution,” has long “provide[d] an impartial federal forum

3 4
for a state’s violation of constitutional rights.” Workers are protected from age discrimination by statute — the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967

5
(ADEA) — as well as by the Constitution through the Equal Protection Clause. However, in 1989, the Fourth Circuit held in Zombro v. Baltimore City Police

6
Department that the ADEA was the exclusive remedy in federal courts for age discrimination claims against state employers, precluding the plaintiff’s equal

7 8 9 10 11 12 13
protection claim via § 1983. Other circuits followed the Fourth, including the D.C., Fifth, Tenth, First, and Ninth. Recently, in Levin v. Madigan, the

14
Seventh Circuit broke with its sister circuits and held “that the ADEA is not the exclusive remedy for age discrimination in employment claims.” Levin was the only

15
case in this series to be decided after the Supreme Court’s decision in Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee. Its recognition of Fitzgerald’s impact on § 1983

doctrine not only justifies the creation of a 6–1 circuit split, but also should persuade the other circuits to reexamine ADEA preclusion.

1
2022 Bluebook Workshop

Footnotes
1 “Section 1983” is a reference to section 1983 of title 42 of the United States Code, last published in 2012. Cite it here:
______________________________________________________________________________
2 This quote is from a 2005 Supreme Court case called City of Rancho Palos Verdes, California, et al., Petitioners, v. Mark J. Abrams, 544 U.S. 113 at 119, 125 S. Ct.
1453 at 1457 161 L.Ed.2d 316 at 320. Cite it here:
______________________________________________________________________________
3 This quote is from page 778 of a 2008 article by Rosalie Berger Levinson entitled Misinterpreting “Sounds of Silence”: Why Courts Should Not “Imply”
Congressional Preclusion of § 1983 Constitutional Claims, published in volume 77, page 775 of the Fordham Law Review. Cite it here:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
4 Cite the statute known as the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. You can find the statute in sections 621 through 634 of Title 29 of the United States
Code, which was last published in 2012. Cite it here:
______________________________________________________________________________
5 You want to cite to page 83 of a decision of the United States Supreme Court decided in 2000. The case appears in on page 62 of volume 528 of United States
Reports. The case is a consolidation of two actions: (1) J. Daniel Kimel, Jr., et al., Petitioners, v. Florida Board of Regents, et al.; and (2) United States, Petitioner, v.
Florida Board of Regents et al. You want to add parenthetically that in this case the Court “subjected age classification to rational basis test.” The Court didn’t exactly
say that, but that’s what it did. Please indicate that in your citation below.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
6 This case is James E. Zombro, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Baltimore City Police Department and Bishop L. Robinson, Commissioner, Baltimore City Police Department,
Defendants-Appellees. This 1989 Fourth Circuit case is published on page 1364 in volume 868 the Federal Reporter, second series. Cite the case here:
______________________________________________________________________________
7 You want to cite to page 1369 of the Zombro case. Cite it here:
______________________________________________________________________________
8 You want to cite to page 318 of a class action case decided in 1991 entitled Venkareddy Chennareddy, General Class Complainant Representing Himself and All
Others Similarly Situated, et al., Appellants, v. Charles Bowsher, Comptroller General of the United States. The case, decided by the United States Court of Appeals,
District of Columbia Circuit, appears on page 315 in volume 936 of the Federal Reporter, second series. You want to indicate parenthetically that the court’s holding
applied to federal employees. Cite it here:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
9 You want to cite to a 1997 Fifth Circuit case called Richard D. LaFleur, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Texas Department of Health, et al., Defendants, and Susan Steeg,
Defendant-Appellant. The case appears at 126 F.3d 758. You want to cite to page 760. You want to indicate that it’s a per curiam opinion. Cite it here:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
10 You want to cite to a 1998 cased decided by the Tenth Circuit. It appears at 158 F.3d 1131. The name of the case is Joanne B. Migneault, Plaintiff-Appellee, v.
Richard Peck, President; David L. McKinney, Vice President for Business and Finance; Paul Roth, M.D., Dean of the School of Medicine; Romeo Ortiz, Director of
Human Resources, Defendants. The case went to the Supreme Court under the name Board of Regents of the University of New Mexico, Petitioner, v. Joanne
Migneault and United States. In 2000, the Court vacated the case on other grounds. The Supreme Court opinion is at 528 U.S. 1110 (2000). Cite it here:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

11 You want to cite to page 745 of a 2003 case from the First Circuit, called Jorge Luis Tapia–Tapia, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. John E. Potter, Postmaster General, et al.,
Defendants, Appellees. The case appears in the 322 volume, of the third series of the Federal Reporter. The first page of the case is 742.
______________________________________________________________________________
12 You want to cite to page 1057 of a 2009 case called Linda Ahlmeyer, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. Nevada System of Higher Education and Mike Reed, Defendants–
Appellees. The case appears at 555 F.3d 1051. Cite it here:
______________________________________________________________________________

2
2022 Bluebook Workshop

13 This is a 2012 case called Harvey N. Levin, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Lisa Madigan, which appears in volume 692, page 607 of the Federal Reporter (third series). Cite
the case here:
______________________________________________________________________________
14 You want to refer to page 622 of the Levin case:
______________________________________________________________________________
15 This is a 2009 Supreme Court case called Lisa Fitzgerald, et vir, Petitioners, v. Barnstable School Committee, et al. Assume that the case isn’t in United State
Reports yet but it’s in the following sources: (1) volume 129, page 788 of the Supreme Court Reporter; and (2) volume 172, page 583 of the United States Supreme
Court Reports, Lawyer’s Edition. Cite the case here:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________