The decision in Edwards v. Aguillard ends a controversy begun in 1981, when the state legislature passed a law requiring "balanced treatment" of evolution and creation science in the state's public schools and promising state support of in-service training for teachers to prepare them to teach creation science. A group of parents, teachers, religious leaders and others immediately challenged the law as violating the First Amendment. A federal district court agreed and a court of appeals affirmed that decision. Louisiana then asked the Supreme Court to review the appeals court decision.
In August 1986, 72 U.S. Nobel laureates in science and a number of national and local science organizations joined the suit as friends of the court, attacking the claim of creation science to be scientific.
Following are excerpts from the majority opinion; dissenting were Justice Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.
...it is clear from the legislative ...
