Epperson v. Arkansas

Epperson v. Arkansas by the Supreme Court of the United States Syllabus

related portals: Supreme Court of the United States. 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 human 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 alongside evolution when evolution was taught. These were also ruled unconstitutional by the Court in the 1987 case Edwards v. Aguillard.— Excerpted from Epperson v. Arkansas on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

393 U.S. 97, 89 S. Ct. 266

Susan EPPERSON et al., Appellants, v. ARKANSAS.

No. 7.

Argued Oct. 16, 1968. --- Decided Nov. 12, 1968.

Syllabus

Teacher in Arkansas school brought action for a declaration that Arkansas antievolution statutes are void and enjoining her dismissal for violation of the statutes. The Arkansas Chancery Court rendered judgment in favor of the teacher. The Supreme Court of Arkansas, 242 Ark. 922, 416 S.W.2d 322, reversed, and the teacher appealed. The United States Supreme Court, Mr. Justice Fortas, held that Arkansas statutes forbidding the teaching of evolution in public schools and in colleges and universities supported in whole or in part by public funds are contrary to the freedom of religion mandate of the First Amendment and in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Judgment of Arkansas Supreme Court reversed.

[p98] Eugene R. Warren, Little Rock, Ark., for appellants.

Don Langston, Little Rock, Ark., for appellee.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).