In Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, a federal district court in Pennsylvania held that teaching “intelligent design” in public schools violated the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment. This December 20th decision is not directly applicable to New Jersey school districts. However, it may be appealed to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, which has federal jurisdiction over Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

In October 2004, the Dover Area School District Board of Education approved a resolution stating, “Students will be made aware of gaps/problems in Darwin’s theory and of other theories of evolution including, but not limited to, intelligent design.”

Alternative theory? The following month, the school board announced, through a press release, that Darwin’s Theory of Evolution has unexplainable gaps, needs to be tested as new evidence is discovered, and is not a proven fact. The board identified intelligent design as an alternative to Darwin’s theory. And beginning in January 2005, the board said, it would require teachers to read a statement to all 9th grade biology students that highlights these thoughts on evolution and intelligent design, encourages students to keep an open mind and indicates that discussion of the origin of life is best left to individual students and their families.

Violates 1st Amendment  Parents objected to the policy on establishment-of-religion grounds (that is, the "establishment clause"  of the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution). After conducting an extensive hearing, the Pennsylvania court determined that the board’s intelligent design policy did, in fact, violate the establishment clause.

The court determined that intelligent design was not supported by any peer-reviewed research, data or publications, was not supported by scientific research or testing, and was not generally accepted in the scientific community. Therefore, it could not be held to be a valid scientific theory and was in violation of the 1st Amendment.