Epperson v. State of Arkansas

Epperson v. State of Arkansas, case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on November 12, 1968, ruled (9–0) that an Arkansas law barring the teaching of evolution in public schools violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause, which generally prohibits the government from establishing, advancing, or giving favour to any one religion.

Three years after the Scopes Trial of 1925—in which a teacher was found guilty of violating a Tennessee law that barred the instruction of evolution in that state’s public schools—Arkansas enacted a statute that made it illegal for teachers in state-supported schools or universities “to teach the theory or doctrine that mankind ascended or descended from a lower order of animals” or “to adopt or use…a textbook that teaches” such a theory. Those who violated the statute could be charged with a misdemeanour and dismissed. Until 1965 the science textbooks used in the school system of Little Rock, Arkansas, did not contain a section on evolution. For the 1965–66 academic year, however, school administrators adopted a textbook that included information on the theory. Susan Epperson, a biology teacher, was confronted with the task of teaching from the new textbook. Fearing that she might be dismissed, Epperson sought a declaration that the Arkansas statute was void. She also sought to enjoin the state and school officials from dismissing her for violating the statute.

A chancery court in Arkansas ruled that the statute violated the Fourteenth Amendment, which safeguards the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and thought from state interference. The Supreme Court of Arkansas, however, reversed the decision, holding that it was within the state’s authority to specify public schools’ curriculum. That court failed to address the other constitutional issues.

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The case was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on October 16, 1968. In its analysis the court concluded that the statute sought to prevent public school teachers from presenting evolution because it was contrary to the belief of a particular religious group—one that thought the Bible’s book of Genesis should be the only source of information as to the origins of humankind. Based on that finding, the court held that the law was unconstitutional because the government “must be neutral in matters of religious theory, doctrine, and practice” and must be neutral between religions and between religion and nonreligion. In addition, the government should not “aid, foster, or promote one religion or religious theory against another.” Thus, the court ruled that the Arkansas statute violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause, which was protected on the state level by the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision of the Arkansas Supreme Court was overturned.