Witters v. Washington Department of Services for the Blind

How later courts describe this case

• holding that a plaintiff may not “cavalierly bypass the comprehensive process fashioned by Congress in the [Age Discrimination in Employment Act] 7 by merely asserting a violation of a constitutional right rather than a statutory right ...”
• holding the ADEA provides the exclusive judicial remedy for claims of age discrimination
• applying Clark to hold that age discrimination claim was not justiciable
• state lacked responsibility for harm to child voluntarily placed by natural parents in private foster home
• state actor determination "depends on the facts of the case, as it must in each instance"
• plaintiff could not maintain action for age discrimination under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 because claim fell within the scope of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. Secs. 621, et seq.
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act cannot be used as basis for § 1983 claim
• “care of foster children” not considered traditionally and exclusively a governmental function