specially concurring:
I concur in the judgment affirming the grant of summary judgment for the defendant. In my view, there is insufficient evidence that the nondiseriminatory reasons proffered by TI for the layoffs at issue here were not the real reasons for those layoffs to send the case to the jury.
I do not understand the panel majority to be holding that, in the context of a reduction in force, a showing that a discharged employee was clearly better qualified than younger, retained employees is necessary to create a genuine issue of material fact. See EEOC v. Manville Sales Corp., 27 F.3d 1089, 1096 n. 5 (5th Cir.1994).
I am not comfortable with the treatment in the majority opinion of the plaintiffs evidence of age-based comments. But even if we accord those comments some probative value, they do not, either independently or in conjunction with the other evidence in the case, constitute more than the scintilla referred to in Boeing.