The U.S. Supreme Court case Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Associated Dry Goods Corp., 1980, revolved around the issue of age discrimination in employment practices. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a lawsuit against Associated Dry Goods Corporation on behalf of several employees who were allegedly forced to retire due to their age, which is prohibited under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). However, the court ruled in favor of Associated Dry Goods Corp., stating that EEOC failed to prove its claim as it did not provide sufficient evidence showing that the company had intentionally discriminated against its employees based on their age. Furthermore, it was found that some employees voluntarily chose early retirement and others were let go due to valid reasons unrelated to their age such as poor performance or restructuring within the company.

In the dissenting opinion for the case of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Associated Dry Goods Corp., Justice Powell argued that the majority's interpretation of Title VII was too broad and not in line with congressional intent. He believed that Congress did not intend to prohibit all voluntary, race-conscious affirmative action programs when it enacted Title VII. Instead, he suggested that such programs should be allowed if they are designed to eliminate traditional patterns of racial segregation and underrepresentation. Furthermore, he disagreed with the majority's view on seniority systems protected by section 703(h) of Title VII, arguing that these systems should only be immune from scrutiny if they were part of a bona fide collective bargaining agreement or established without discriminatory intent.