Roderick MacPherson and Marvin Narz, who were associate professors at the University of Montevallo in Alabama, sued under the ADEA and alleged an evaluation system that discriminated against the elderly.

[3] Specifically, Boerne interpreted the scope of Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which states, "The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."

"[4] The Court concluded that the ADEA "prohibits substantially more state employment decisions and practices than would likely be held unconstitutional under the applicable equal protection, rational basis standard."

Therefore, the ADEA's remedy failed the "congruence and proportionality" test required by Boerne and so it was not "a valid exercise of constitutional authority" under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The rationality commanded by the Equal Protection Clause does not require States to match age distinctions and the legitimate interests they serve with razorlike precision.

Justice Stevens referred to the doctrine of sovereign immunity as expanded by Seminole Tribe v. Florida and Alden v. Maine as "judicial activism."