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From The Classroom To The Courtroom: Intelligent Design And The Constitution, Jay D. Wexler
From The Classroom To The Courtroom: Intelligent Design And The Constitution, Jay D. Wexler
Faculty Scholarship
Although the Supreme Court of the United States has never developed a single clear test for determining what kinds of state action violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, schools that attempt to teach or introduce intelligent design as a purportedly scientific alternative to evolution likely fall afoul of the First Amendment's commands. Under the Court's most relevant precedent, Edwards v. Aguillard, teaching intelligent design violates the Establishment Clause because, among other things, there is an enormous disconnect between the purpose of teaching intelligent design and its effect. Moreover, public school teachers do not possess any First Amendment right …
Intelligent Design And The First Amendment: A Response, Jay D. Wexler
Intelligent Design And The First Amendment: A Response, Jay D. Wexler
Faculty Scholarship
In September 2005, a federal district judge in Pennsylvania began presiding over the nation's first trial regarding the constitutionality of introducing the concept of "intelligent design" (ID), a purportedly scientific alternative to the theory of evolution, into the public schools. My previous work has argued that teaching ID in the public schools would raise serious constitutional problems. In a series of writings, including a full length book and several articles, Baylor University professor Francis Beckwith has argued that public schools may constitutionally teach ID. In doing so, Beckwith has critiqued a number of arguments I have previously advanced in my …
Darwin, Design, And Disestablishment: Teaching The Evolution Controversy In Public Schools, Jay D. Wexler
Darwin, Design, And Disestablishment: Teaching The Evolution Controversy In Public Schools, Jay D. Wexler
Faculty Scholarship
The controversy over teaching evolution in public schools is once again hot news. Ever since the Supreme Court decided in 1987 that Louisiana could not constitutionally require teachers to give equal time to teaching creation science and evolution, critics of evolution have adopted a variety of new strategies to change the way in which public schools present the subject to their students. These strategies have included teaching evolution as a "theory" rather than as a fact, disclaiming the truth of evolutionary theory, teaching arguments against evolution, teaching the allegedly nontheistic theory of intelligent design instead of creationism, removing evolution from …