The U.S. Supreme Court case General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc. v. Dennis Cline et al., 2003 revolved around the interpretation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The plaintiffs were a group of employees who claimed that their employer, General Dynamics Land Systems, had violated ADEA by changing its policy to deny health benefits to future retirees under the age of 50. Previously, all workers with sufficient years of service could receive these benefits upon retirement regardless of age. However, after a collective bargaining agreement in 1997 between the company and United Auto Workers union was reached; it limited such retiree health benefits only to those aged 50 or above at retirement. The Supreme Court ruled against the plaintiffs stating that ADEA did not cover instances where younger workers are discriminated against in favor older ones - also known as "reverse discrimination". The court held that Congress's intent when passing ADEA was primarily aimed at protecting older workers from prejudice and bias based on inaccurate stereotypes about their productivity and skills rather than providing broad protection against any form of age-based discrimination.

In the dissenting opinion for General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc. v. Dennis Cline et al., Justice Stevens argued that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) should protect younger workers from discrimination as well as older ones. He disagreed with the majority's interpretation of ADEA and believed it was intended to prohibit arbitrary age discrimination against all employees, not just those over 40 years old. The justice pointed out that Congress had used broad language when drafting this law which did not limit its protections to any specific age group but rather prohibited employers from discriminating based on an individual’s age period. Furthermore, he noted that there were instances where younger workers could be unfairly disadvantaged because of their youthfulness and thus they too deserved protection under ADEA.