Associated Press Writer

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A federal judge considering whether “intelligent design” belongs in public school biology classes could deal a blow to the movement critical of the theory of evolution.

U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III was expected to rule today on whether the Dover Area School Board violated the Constitution when it required its biology curriculum to include “intelligent design.”

Intelligent design is the theory that life on Earth was produced by an unidentified intelligent cause. The school board policy was believed to have been the first of its kind in the nation.

“It seems to me that a number of states and a number of school boards which may be considering something similar will be watching,” said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor.

Lawyers for the school board have said they hope Jones will limit the scope of his ruling to the board's motivation for adopting the curriculum change.

But attorneys for eight families suing to have intelligent design removed from the science curriculum hope Jones will rule more broadly on the scientific validity of intelligent design.

The board's attorneys said members sought to improve science education by exposing students to alternatives to Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection causing gradual changes over time; intelligent-design proponents argue that it cannot fully explain the existence of complex life forms.

The plaintiffs argued that intelligent design amounts to a secular repackaging of creationism, which the courts already have ruled cannot be taught in public schools.

The Dover policy, adopted in October 2004, requires students to hear a statement about intelligent design before ninth-grade biology lessons on evolution. The statement says Charles Darwin's theory is “not a fact,” has inexplicable “gaps,” and refers students to an intelligent-design textbook, “Of Pandas and People,” for more information.

The dispute is the latest chapter in a long-running debate over the teaching of evolution dating back to the famous 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, in which Tennessee biology teacher John T. Scopes was fined $100 for violating a state law that forbade teaching evolution. The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed his conviction on the narrow ground that only a jury trial could impose a fine exceeding $50 and the law was repealed in 1967.

Jones heard arguments in the fall during a six-week trial in which expert witnesses for each side debated intelligent design's scientific merits. Other witnesses, including current and former school board members, disagreed over whether creationism was discussed in board meetings months before the curriculum change was adopted.

The controversy also divided the community in southwest Pennsylvania and galvanized voters to oust eight incumbent school board members who supported the policy in the Nov. 8 school board election. They were replaced by a slate of eight opponents who pledged to remove intelligent design from the science curriculum.

The case is among at least a handful that have focused new attention on the teaching of evolution in the nation's schools.

Earlier this month, a federal appeals court in Georgia heard arguments over whether evolution disclaimer stickers placed in a school system's biology textbooks were unconstitutional.

A federal judge in January ordered Cobb County school officials to immediately remove the stickers, which called evolution a theory, not a fact.

In November, state education officials in Kansas adopted new classroom science standards that call the theory of evolution into question.

---

Martha Raffaele covers education for The Associated Press in Harrisburg.