Edwards v. Aguillard case brief

Edwards v. Aguillard case brief summary
482 U.S. 578 (1987)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Appellant officials challenged the decision of the United State Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that affirmed the lower court's decision that found the Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science in Public School Instruction Act, La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 17:286.1 - 17:286.7, violated the Establishment Clause.

CASE FACTS
Appellees challenged the constitutionality of the Louisiana Creationism Act (Act),La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 17:286.1 - 17:286.7. Appellees sought an injunction and declaratory relief. Appellants defended on the ground that the purpose of the Act was to protect a legitimate secular interest, namely, academic freedom. Appellees stated the Act was facially invalid because it violated the Establishment Clause. The trial court granted appellees' motion for summary judgment and the appellate court affirmed.

DISCUSSION

• The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the appellate court. 
• The Court found that the Act advanced a religious doctrine by requiring either banishment of the theory of evolution or the presentation of a religious viewpoint that rejected evolution in its entirety. 
• The Act violated the Establishment Clause because it sought to employ the symbolic and financial support of government to achieve a religious purpose.

CONCLUSION
Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's decision when the Court found the Louisiana Creationism Act violated the Establishment Clause because the Act sought to employ the symbolic and financial support of government to achieve a religious purpose when it sought to banish the theory of evolution from public school classrooms.

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