Reporters' Testimony Sought In Intelligent Design Challenge

In Pennsylvania, a federal lawsuit brought on behalf of 8 families by the ACLU is pending challenging the policy of the Dover Area School District that requires reading ninth-graders a statement about intelligent design before teaching about evolution. (See prior postings 1 and 2) The Christian Post reports today on last Thursday's pre-trial hearing. At issue in the case is whether the school's district's policy was motivated by religion, or was purely educational. Attorneys for the school district, the Thomas More Law Center, have asked the judge to permit them to call as witnesses two reporters whose stories quoted school board members as making religious statements. They claim that reporters reporters, Heidi Bernhard-Bubb and Joe Maldonado, misrepresented what the board members said. U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III will review the reporters' notes to decide whether they should testify.