kitzmillervdover

**Kitzmiller**
(Pa. F. Supp, 2005)

D (Dover Area School District) tried to mandate teachers to read a statement to the students about intelligent design as an alternative "explanation" to evolution. P (Tammy Kitzmiller-1/11 school parents) sued the school district over a statement that the school board required to be read aloud in ninth-grade science classes when evolution was taught.
 * __Facts:__**

Does teaching intelligent design in public school biology classes violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to because intelligent design is not science and "cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents?" Yes
 * __Issues/Answers:__**

Legal Basis- U.S. Const. Amend.1; Penn.Const. Art. I, § 3 Rationale- “Teaching intelligent design in public school biology classes violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (and Article I, Section 3 of the Pennsylvania State Constitution) because intelligent design is not science and ‘cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents.’”
 * __Basis/Rationale:__**


 * __Notes__**:
 * Certain board members express concern about the teaching of evolution
 * After advice sought from Discovery Institute and the Thomas Moore Law Center,
 * board members vote 6-3 in favor of mandating a statement to be read by biology teachers that explains that Intelligent Design is an alternative explanation to evolution.
 * 3 dissenting board members resign in protest
 * science teachers refuse to read sighting Penn. Code of Ed. (Teachers cannot present info. they believe to be false.)
 * Administrator reads to students
 * 11 parents file suit stating that Intelligent Design is a form of Creationism and violates the First Amendment
 * Judge Jones (appointed by George W. Bush) decides in favor of the plaintiff
 * His “dicta” goes on to explain that the board was manipulative and “lying” at times. “Secular purposes claimed by the board amount to pretext for the Board’s real purpose, which was to promote religion in the public school classroom, in violation of the Establishment Clause.”