Kitzmiller v. Dover

  • Filed: 12/14/2004
  • Status: Closed
  • Court: Middle District - Pennsylvania
  • Latest Update: Dec 14, 2004

In December 2004, the ACLU-PA sued the Dover Area School District on behalf of eleven parents who objected to the recent policy that required the teaching of intelligent design in biology classes as an alternative to evolution.

In December 2004, the ACLU-PA sued the Dover Area School District on behalf of eleven parents who objected to the recent policy that required the teaching of intelligent design in biology classes as an alternative to evolution. We allege that intelligent design is stealth creationism and, therefore, teaching a religious doctrine in science class violates the Establishment Clause.

The six-week trial concluded on November 4, 2005. On December 20, 2006, Judge John E. Jones II issued a blistering 139-page opinion in which he found intelligent design to be a religious view and not a scientific theory.

Press Releases

Attorney(s):
Eric Rothschild, Stephen Harvey, Thomas Schmidt, & Alfred Wilcox (Pepper Hamilton); Richard Katskee & Alex Luchenitser (Americans United for Separation of Church and State); Vic Walczak & Paula Knudsen (ACLU of PA)

Related Content

Resource
A collage of newspaper headlines from 20 years ago about the ruling on Kiztmiller v. Dover Area School District.
  • First Amendment Rights|
  • +1 Issue

Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District – A 20-year Retrospective on Using the Law to Defend Scientific Integrity

Twenty years ago, in December of 2005, a federal court in Pennsylvania issued a ruling in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District that an effort to teach so-called Intelligent Design Creationism as an alternative to evolution in public schools was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.