In the notorious Cobb County, Georgia evolution textbook sticker case, yesterday the 11th Circuit punted. The decision is Selman v. Cobb County School District, (11th Cir., May 25, 2006). In 2001, the Cobb County, Georgia school board ordered stickers placed on their new biology textbooks that contained 101 pages on evolutionary theory. The stickers read: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered." A lower court upheld an Establishment Clause challenge (as well as a challenge under the Georgia constitution) and ordered the stickers removed. Now the Court of Appeals has remanded the case for the trial court to hear more evidence and enter new findings so that the Court of Appeals can review "the important constitutional issues" raised by the case.
The trial court's decision handed down last year applied the three-pronged Lemon test to conclude that the school board had acted unconstitutionally. It held that the school board had legitimate secular purposes in adopting the sticker: encouraging students to think critically, and reducing offense to students and parents whose beliefs may conflict with the teaching of evolution. However, the court found that the second prong of the Lemon test doomed the stickers. The school board's actions had the primary effect of advancing religion.
Here is the sentence supporting the conclusion on "effect" that particularly troubled the Court of Appeals: "in light of the sequence of events that led to the Sticker's adoption, the Sticker communicates to those who endorse evolution that they are political outsiders, while the Sticker communicates to the Christian fundamentalists and creationists who pushed for a disclaimer that they are political insiders." The key events were a letter and petition from individuals opposing evolution on religious grounds and pressuring the school board to adopt stickers and other measures to dilute the teaching of evolution. However the trial court record was unclear on whether these key documents in fact were submitted to the board before it made its decision on the stickers, and it does not appear that the key documents were in fact formally entered into evidence at trial.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution yesterday reported that both sides claim to be pleased with the decision. [Thanks to How Appealing via Blog From the Capital for the link to the case.]
