The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act extends to small state and local government employers, rejecting an Arizona fire district’s contention that the statute shouldn’t apply to public entities that employ less than 20 people.

In a unanimous 8-0 decision that excluded Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who didn’t participate, the court upheld the Ninth Circuit’s decision to reopen a lawsuit by two firefighter captains who claim they were illegally terminated by the Mount Lemmon Fire District near Tucson, Arizona, because of their age. John Guido was 46 and Dennis Rankin was 54 when they were fired in 2009.

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Guido and Rankin are represented by Don Awerkamp and Shannon Giles of Awerkamp Bonilla & Giles PLC and Jeffrey L. Fisher, David T. Goldberg and Pamela S. Karlan of Stanford Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic.