On Tuesday, a California federal district court opened a new chapter in the evolution-intelligent design debate. In Caldwell v. Roseville Joint Union High School District, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24923 (ED Ca, Oct. 25, 2005), the court denied defendant's motion to dismiss a number of plaintiff's constitutional claims. The law suit filed by a parent, Larry Caldwell, challenged the Roseville School District's refusal of plaintiff's request to place on its agenda the discussion of his Quality Science Education Policy ("QSEP"). QSEP presents some of the scientific weaknesses of evolution along with the scientific strengths.
While dismissing some of plaintiff's claims on Eleventh Amendment grounds, the court denied defendants' motion to dismiss his free speech, establishment clause, due process and equal protection claims. The court found that plaintiff sufficiently alleged that defendants restricted his speech in a limited public forum on the basis of it content. Plaintiff's Establishment Clause claim asserted that defendants do not allow Christian citizens to participate in public debates and public policy-making to the same extent as non-Christians. In refusing to dismiss the claim, the court held that plaintiff sufficiently alleged that the primary purpose of the defendant's actions was to disapprove of his actual or perceived religious beliefs.
The full text of the complaint in the suit is available online, as is Caldwell's press release on his victory. Further discussion is in this post from the Center for Science & Culture.
