Wright v. Houston I.S.D.:

Students of the Houston Independent School District sued to prevent the district from teaching evolution and from adopting textbooks that incorporated evolution. In this decision, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the trial court's ruling .

• Syllabus
• Per Curiam Opinion

Rita WRIGHT et al. v. HOUSTON INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT et al.

Before: GOLDBERG, CLARK, and RONEY, Circuit Judges.

Herbert L. Coffman, Houston, Tex., for John R. Brown, Sr., and others.

James S. Kelly, Houston, Tex., for Barbara Drew and Mrs. Drew.

John L. Hill, Atty. Gen., James C. McCoy, Bruce Youngblood, Asst. Attys. Gen., Austin, Tex., for Central and Edgar.

William Key Wilde, Kelly Frels, Houston, Tex., for Houston Ind. Sch. Dist., Bd. of Trustees and Pres. of Bd. of Trustees.

Syllabus

Students of Houston Independent School District sued for an injunction to block the district from teaching the theory of evolution as part of its curriculum and from adopting textbooks that taught evolution, on the ground that these actions inhibited them in the free exercise of their religion and constituted an establishment of religion. The defendants moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The District Court, Woodrow B. Seals, J., 366 F. Supp. 1208, dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim, and plaintiffs appealed. The Court of Appeals held that the trial court could not prevent teaching the theory of evolution in public schools.

Affirmed.

Per Curiam Opinion

In this 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 case, plaintiffs seek to enjoin the Houston Independent School District and the Texas State Board of Education from teaching the theory of evolution, without teaching the other theories regarding human origin. Plaintiffs contend that including the study of evolution in the school's curriculum constitutes the establishment of a sectarian, atheistic religion and inhibits the free exercise of their own religion in violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The District Court, after a hearing on defendants' motion under Rule 12(b)(6), F.R.Civ.P., dismissed the case.

After extended oral argument and a thorough and careful review of the record and briefs in this case, which include voluminous materials on the subject at hand, we conclude that the case should be affirmed on the comprehensive opinion of District Judge Woodrow Seals. Wright v. Houston Independent School District, 366 F. Supp. 1208 (S.D. Tex. 1972).

Contrary to the sincere, able, and vigorous arguments of plaintiffs, the Federal courts cannot by judicial decree do that which the Supreme Court has declared the state legislatures powerless to do, i. e., prevent teaching the theory of evolution in public school for religious reasons. Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97, 89 S.Ct. 266, 21 L.Ed. 2d 228 (1968). To require the teaching of every theory of human origin, as alternatively suggested by plaintiffs, would be an unwarranted intrusion into the authority of public school systems to control the academic curriculum. See Epperson v. Arkansas, supra; Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503, 89 S.Ct. 733, 21 L.Ed.2d 731 (1969); Shanley v. Northeast Independent School District, Bexar County, Texas, 462 F.2d 960 (5th Cir. 1972).

We find no error in the District Court's denying plaintiff Weber's motion for relief from judgment pursuant to Rule 60(b)(1), F.R.Civ.P.

Affirmed.