Edwards v. Aguillard Trial

Background Creationism and evolution had been fought by various politicians for years. In 1929, the Butler Act was introduced and it basically outlawed teaching evolution in public schools.

Background In the 1960s, evolution was again put into public school agendas though many people were not happy with it and tried to get it outlawed again. In the 1980s, some states decided that they want creationism taught while evolution was taught. They wanted creationism to be taught and seen as another theory.

Background One of the states that passed such a law was Louisiana. The new legislature was created by Sate Senator Bill P. Keith of Caddo Parish. The bill was entitled Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science in Public School Instruction Act. It was otherwise known as the Creationism act. The act made it law that when evolution was being taught so must creation science be taught along with it.

Background Don Aguillard was a high school advanced biology teacher in Louisiana. He took notice of the new creation science law. He believed it threatened academic freedom, because it imposed religious implications in science. He believed that allowing this was unconstitutional in violation of the establishment clause.

Trial Don Aguillard challenged the law by suing Edwin W. Edwards, who was the governor of Louisiana at the time. The cause when to the Supreme court in December 10, 1986.

Trial The Supreme court heard Aguillard’s argument of the act being in violation of the first amendment and threatening of academic freedom. The judges put these accusations to the test by using the lemon test.

Lemon Test The lemon test was created after the case of Lemon v. Kurtzman in 1971, which was a case about reinbursement of nonpublic school teacher salaries. The lemon test was a test made based on this case for future cases that had to do with the violation of the first ammendment having to do with Religion.

Lemon Test The three part Lemon test is as follows: 1. The government's action must have a secular legislative purpose; The government's action must not have the primary effect of either advancing or inhibiting religion; The government's action must not result in an "excessive government entanglement" with religion.

Lemon Test If any of these parts of the test are violated, the ruling is that it is unconstitutional. and in violation of the establishment clause.

Decision In Edwards v. Aguillard, the Supreme court used the Lemon test. In June 19, 1987, the act failed the Lemon test, because it did not pass all three parts of the test. The court ruled that teachers were limited by only able to teach evolution if they also taught creation science. They could not determine, which scientific principles to be taught.

Dissenting Opinion The ruling was that the act was made to impose religious purpose in public schools. Justice Antoin Scalia and Chief Justice William Rehnquist dissented. They argued that the act’s purpose of protecting academic freedom was a secular purpose and valid.

Aftermath The ruling only affected public schools to refrain from teaching creation science. Nonpublic schools could continue to teach such sciences. A few years later, “intelligent design” theory was created where creation science was just changed to intelligent design or designer for the text book of Of Pandas and People. Intelligent design in the 1990s became a new movement of thought and theory in the minds of religious and nonreligious alike. Of Pandas and People textbook also became public in the trial of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.

Quiz 1.What was the other name for the Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science in Public School Instruction Act? a.The Evolution Act b.The Butler Act c.The Intelligent Design Act d.The Creation Act -

Quiz 2. Where was this act passed? a.Arkansas b.Tennessee c.Louisiana- d.Kentucky

Quiz 3. Who was Aguillard? a.A state representative b.A scientist c.A parent of a student d.A teacher-

Quiz 4. What did the plantiff state that the act was in violation of? a.The Establishment Clause b.Threatened academic freedom c.The First Amendment d.All of the Above- e.None of the Above

Quiz 5. What was the name of the test that the Supreme Court used to judge this case? a.The Lee mon test b.The Lemon test- c.The Religious test d.The Evolution test

Quiz 6. True or False. The act passed the Lemon test. A.True B.False-

Quiz 7. True or False. The act was considered unconstitutional. A.True- B.False

Quiz 8. The Supreme Court ruling affected all of the following except: A.Public Schools B.Public School Teachers C.Independent Schools- D.Public School Students

Quiz 9. Which Justices had a dissenting opinion? A.Chief Justice William Rehnquist B.Thurgood Marshall C.Sandra Day O’Connor D.Antonin Scalia E.A&B F.A&C G.A&D-

Quiz 10. What was creation science’s name changed to in the 1990s? A.Evolution B.Intelligent Design- C.Creationsim D.Creator Science

Resources Aguillard