When the schoolboard for Dover, Pennsylvania, instituted a policy whereby "intelligent design" was required to be mentioned as a sort of disclaimer alternative to evolution in science classes, it sparked outcry across the state, the region and the nation. It led to all 8 members of the board being voted out of office and replaced with more moderate members of the community.

And, it led to a series of courts reviewing the issue. Now, federal district judge John E. Jones, III, appointed by Pres. Bush and a Republican himself, has ruled the teaching of intelligent design in science classes in public schools unconstitutional. His opinion left no room for doubt as to his opinion of the egregious violation of the separation of church and state principle.

Jones found that "The overwhelming evidence is that Intelligent Design is a religious view, a mere re-labeling of creationism and not a scientific theory". His ruling, 139 pages in length, took the form of a sweeping argument against the validity of intelligent design as anything at all related to scientific inquiry.

Jones wrote: "It is an extension of the Fundamentalists' view that one must either accept the literal interpretation of Genesis or else believe in the godless system of evolution."