Epperson v. Arkansas
Supreme Court of the United States Image File history File links Seal_of_the_United_States_Supreme_Court. ...
Argued October 16, 1968 Decided November 12, 1968
Full case name: Epperson, et al. v. Arkansas Citations: 393 U.S. 97 (1968); Prior history: Subsequent history: None
Holding
States may not require curricula to align with the views of any particular religion.
Court membership
Chief Justice: Earl Warren Associate Justices: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, John M. Harlan II, William J. Brennan, Potter Stewart, Byron White, Abe Fortas, Thurgood Marshall
Case opinions
Majority by: Fortas Concurrence by: Black Concurrence by: Harlan Concurrence by: Stewart
Laws applied

Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97 (1968) was a United States Supreme Court case which invalidated an Arkansas statute that prohibited the teaching of evolution in the public schools. The Court held that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits a state from requiring, in the words of the majority opinion, "that teaching and learning must be tailored to the principles or prohibitions of any religious sect or dogma." The Supreme Court declared the Arkansas statute unconstitutional because it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Creation science would not be ruled unconstitutional by the Court until the 1987 case Edwards v. Aguillard. Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was a California district attorney of Alameda County, the 30th Governor of California, and the 14th Chief Justice of the United States (from 1953 to 1969). ... Hugo Black Hugo LaFayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1937 - 1971). ... William Douglas William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898 – January 19, 1980) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. ... John Marshall Harlan II (May 20, 1899 – December 29, 1971) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. ... William J. Brennan, official portrait, 1976. ... Justice Potter Stewart Potter Stewart (January 23, 1915 – December 7, 1985) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. ... Byron White, official portrait. ... Abe Fortas Abraham Fortas (June 19, 1910 - April 5, 1982) was a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice. ... Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. ... // Case citation is the system used in common law countries such as the United States, England and Wales, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and India to uniquely identify the location of past court cases in special series of books called reporters. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the U.S. and leads the judicial branch of the U.S. federal government. ... Official language(s) English Capital Little Rock Largest city Little Rock Area  - Total   - Width   - Length    - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 29th 53,179 sq mi  137 732 km² 239 miles  385 km 261 miles  420 km 2. ... A speculative phylogenetic tree of all living things, based on rRNA gene data, showing the separation of the three domains, bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. ... The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is a part of the United States Bill of Rights. ... Page I of the Constitution of the United States of America The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. ... The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution states that: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion Together with the Free Exercise Clause, (or prohibiting the free exercise thereof), these two clauses make up what is commonly known as the religion clauses. ... Creation Magazine is a publication supporting young-earth creationist beliefs. ... Edwards v. ...

Background

In 1928, Arkansas adopted a law which prohibited any public school or university from teaching "the theory or doctrine that mankind ascended or descended from a lower order of animals" and from using any textbook which taught the same. A similar Tennessee law had been upheld a year earlier in the internationally-publicized Scopes Monkey Trial. During the forty years the Arkansas law was in effect, no one was ever prosecuted for violating it. Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 36th 109,247 km² 195 km 710 km 2. ... The Scopes Trial of 1925 pitted William Jennings Bryan against Clarence Darrow and teacher John T. Scopes in an American court case that tested a law passed on March 13, 1925, forbidding the teaching of evolution in Tennessee public schools. ...

In the mid-1960s, Forrest Rozzell, the secretary of the Arkansas Education Association, sought someone to challenge the law as a violation of the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. Rather than have someone break the law as in the Scopes case, the AEA's lawyers instead tried to find a person to request a declaratory judgment on the law. Susan Epperson, a Little Rock high school teacher and theistic evolutionist, agreed to be that person. The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ... Page I of the Constitution of the United States of America The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. ... Little Rock skyline Nickname: The Capital City, Rock-Town, City of Roses Map Political Statistics Founded 1821 Incorporated 1831 County Pulaski County Mayor Jim Dailey Geographic Statistics Area  - Total  - Land  - Water 302. ... Theistic evolution, less commonly known as evolutionary creationism, isn’t a theory in the scientific sense, but a particular view about how the theory of evolution relates to some religious interpretations. ...

Original trial and appeal

The AEA's lawyers tried to keep it in judge's chambers, to keep out of the media spotlight but the Arkansas Attorney General disagreed and a trial was arranged. Epperson testified but the trial only lasted a day with Judge Reed finding the law unconstitutional.

The Attorney-General appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court who gave a very short ruling that the law was "a valid exercise of the state's power to specify the curriculum in its public schools" adding "The court expresses no opinion on the question whether the Act prohibits any explanation of the theory of evolution or merely prohibits teaching that the theory is true; the answer not being necessary to a decision in the case, and the issue not having been raised." but this issue of ambiguity was important. this is a big lie The Arkansas Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Arkansas. ...

Supreme Court Case

The AEA appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, which concluded: The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the U.S. and leads the judicial branch of the U.S. federal government. ...

Arkansas' law cannot be defended as an act of religious neutrality. Arkansas did not seek to excise from the curricula of its schools and universities all discussion of the origin of man. The law's effort was confined to an attempt to blot out a particular theory because of its supposed conflict with the Biblical account, literally read. Plainly, the law is contrary to the mandate of the First, and in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Consequences

The decision in Epperson was the first in a series of legal setbacks to creationists wanting to promote their religion in America's public schools. These include Wright v. Houston Independent School District (1972), Willoughby v. Stever (1973), Daniel v. Waters (1975), Segraves v. California (1981), McLean v. Arkansas (1982), Edwards v. Aguillard (1987), Webster v. New Lenox School District (1990), Peloza v. Capistrano School District (1994), Freiler v. Tangipahoa Parish Board of Education (1997), LeVake v Independent School District 656 (2000), Selman v. Cobb County School District (2005) and Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (2005). Willoughby v. ... Daniel v. ... McLean v. ... Edwards v. ... Peloza v. ... Selman v. ... Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. ...

Creationism in Arkansas, and "equal time"/"balance treatment" acts

Arkansas' equal time act was struck down in McLean v. Arkansas but it wasn't until 1987 that the Supreme Court ruled the teaching of "creation science" illegal in Edwards v. Aguillard. McLean v. ... Creation Magazine is a publication supporting young-earth creationist beliefs. ... Edwards v. ...

External links

• Epperson v. Arkansas from Cornell Law Archive
• Epperson v. Arkansas from talkorgins.org
• Epperson v. Arkansas on Findlaw
• The Biology Teacher Next Door: Susan Epperson at Evolution 2004