Kitzmiller v.
Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al., Case No. 04cv2688, was the first direct challenge brought in the United States federal courts against a public school district that required the presentation of “intelligent design” as an alternative to evolution as an “explanation of the origin of life.” The plaintiffs successfully argued that intelligent design is a form of creationism, and that the school board policy thus violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The judge’s decision has sparked considerable response from both supporters and critics. Eleven parents of students in Dover, York County, Pennsylvania, near the borough of York, sued the Dover Area School District over a statement that the school board required be read aloud in ninth-grade science classes when evolution was taught.
