Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District

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Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 400 F. Supp. 2d 707 (M.D. Pa. 2005)[1] was the first case brought in the United States federal courts testing a public school policy requiring the teaching of intelligent design (ID). The court found intelligent design to be not science.[2] [3] In October 2004, the Dover Area School District of York County, Pennsylvania , changed its biology teaching curriculum to require that intelligent design be presented as an alternative to evolution theory, and that _Of Pandas and People _, a textbook advocating intelligent design, was to be used as a reference book.[4] The prominence of this textbook during the trial was such that the case is sometimes referred to as the Dover Panda Trial,[5] [6] a name which recalls the popular name of the Scopes Monkey Trial in Tennessee , 80 years earlier. The plaintiffs successfully argued that intelligent design is a form of creationism , and that the school board policy violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution . The judge's decision sparked considerable response from both supporters and critics.

Eleven parents of students in Dover , York County, Pennsylvania , near the city of York , sued the Dover Area School District over the school board requirement that a statement presenting intelligent design as "an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin's view" was to be read aloud in ninth-grade science classes when evolution was taught.[7] The plaintiffs were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) and Pepper Hamilton LLP . The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) acted as consultants for the plaintiffs. The defendants were represented by the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC). The Foundation for Thought and Ethics , publisher of Of Pandas and People, tried to join the lawsuit late as a defendant but was denied for multiple reasons.[8]

The suit was brought in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania seeking declaratory and injunctive relief . Since it sought a purely equitable remedy , under the Seventh Amendment , the right to a jury trial did not apply. It was tried in a bench trial from September 26, 2005, to November 4, 2005, before Judge John E. Jones III , a Republican appointed in 2002 by George W. Bush .[9]

Contents

• 1 Outcomes

  • 1.1 Legal

  • 1.2 Local school board

• 2 Background

• 3 Litigants

  • 3.1 Plaintiffs

  • 3.2 Defendants

• 4 Trial

  • 4.1 Opening statements

    • 4.1.1 Plaintiffs

    • 4.1.2 Defense

  • 4.2 Witnesses

    • 4.2.1 Witnesses for the plaintiffs

    • 4.2.2 Witnesses for the defense

    • 4.2.3 Witnesses for the plaintiffs (called out-of-turn)

    • 4.2.4 Witnesses for the defense

  • 4.3 Closing arguments

  • 4.4 Decision

• 5 Responses

• 6 Settlement of the legal fees

• 7 Potential perjury and deceit

  • 7.1 Specific potential perjury

• 8 Analysis and criticism

• 9 Documentaries

• 10 See also

• 11 References

• 12 Further reading

• 13 External links

  • 13.1 Media files

Outcomes

(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kitzmiller_v._Dover_Area_School_District&action=edit&section=1 "Edit section: Outcomes")

Legal

(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kitzmiller_v._Dover_Area_School_District&action=edit&section=2 "Edit section: Legal")

On December 20, 2005, Jones issued his 139-page findings of fact and decision ruling that the Dover mandate requiring the statement to be read in class was unconstitutional. The ruling concluded that intelligent design is not science, and permanently barred the board from requiring teachers to denigrate or disparage the scientific theory of evolution, and from requiring ID to be taught as an alternative theory.[3]

Local school board

(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kitzmiller_v._Dover_Area_School_District&action=edit&section=3 "Edit section: Local school board")

All eight of the Dover school board members who were up for re-election on November 8, 2005, were defeated by a set of challengers who opposed the teaching of intelligent design in a science class. (The ninth member was not up for re-election.) The new school board president subsequently stated that the board did not intend to appeal the ruling.[3]

Background

(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kitzmiller_v._Dover_Area_School_District&action=edit&section=4 "Edit section: Background")

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