Epperson v. Arkansas

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Epperson v. Arkansas
Seal of the United States Supreme Court.svg
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 16, 1968
Decided November 12, 1968
Full case name Susan Epperson, et al. v. Arkansas
Citations 393 U.S. 97 (more)
89 S. Ct. 266; 21 L. Ed. 2d 228; 1968 U.S. LEXIS 328
Prior history Appeal from the Supreme Court of Arkansas
Subsequent history None
Holding
States may not require curricula to align with the views of any particular religion.
Court membership

Chief Justice
Earl Warren
Case opinions
Majority Fortas, joined by Warren, Douglas, Brennan, White, Marshall
Concurrence Black
Concurrence Harlan
Concurrence Stewart
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97 (1968), was a United States Supreme Court case that 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. After this decision, some jurisdictions passed laws that required the teaching of creation science. These were also ruled unconstitutional by the Court in the 1987 case Edwards v. Aguillard.

In his concurrence, Justice Black asserted that it was not clear that the case presented a justiciable case or controversy. Justice Black noted that Epperson had brought this declaratory judgment action despite the fact that the State had never made any attempt to enforce the Act. Justice Black also noted that the case could be moot and therefore non-justiciable because it had not been established that Epperson was still teaching in the school district:

But whether this Arkansas teacher is still a teacher, fearful of punishment under the Act, we do not know. It may be, as has been published in the daily press, that she has long since given up her job as a teacher and moved to a distant city, thereby escaping the dangers she had imagined might befall her under this lifeless Arkansas Act.

Contents

[edit] Consequences

The decision in Epperson was the first in a series of legal setbacks to creationists wanting to promote creationism through America's public schools. These include:

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

Arkansas's 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.

[edit] Related cases

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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