Dover was a NAS hit job and Jones got the contract.
In any event Dr. Sarfati makes mincemeat of the decision and those associated with it in this article. I have only excerpted a portion from
Science, Creation and Evolutionism
Response to the latest anticreationist agitprop from the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Science, Evolution and Creationism
From creationontheweb:
"
American legal aspects
Dover, PA and Judge Jones
Photo Wikipedia.org
Judge John E. Jones III
SEC cites the Dover ruling by Judge John E. Jones III, which many evolutionists delight in, including Richard Dawkins:
District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania,Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 2005
‘[W]e find that ID [intelligent design] is not science and cannot be judged a valid, accepted scientific theory, as it has failed to publish in peer-reviewed journals, engage in research and testing, and gain acceptance in the scientific community. ID, as noted, is grounded in theology, not science. … Moreover, ID’s backers have sought to avoid the scientific scrutiny which we have now determined that it cannot withstand by advocating that the controversy, but not ID itself, should be taught in science class. This tactic is at best disingenuous, and at worst a canard. The goal of the IDM is not to encourage critical thought, but to foment a revolution which would supplant evolutionary theory with ID.’
Even for their own purposes, citing the Dover case is futile. Since it was not appealed to a higher court, it is not a binding legal precedent anywhere outside of the Dover school district.
It is laughable that the NAS should cite as an authority on science a judge who has no scientific or philosophical training. Even philosophers of science who were themselves strongly anticreationist have warned against using a judge as an authority on the philosophy of science.42,50 But this Jones is clearly different; after all, he boasted that he read five newspapers a day! Even the laudatory article in Time said that his:
‘previous claims to fame were a failed attempt to privatize Pennsylvania’s state liquor stores as chairman of the Liquor Control Board—and banning Bad Frog Beer on the grounds that its label was obscene.’
So not surprisingly, his ruling about ID as science was copied practically verbatim (90%) from the evolutionist ACLU brief, including its errors in fact, as the Discovery Institute summarizes:
‘In fact, 90.9% (or 5,458 words) of Judge Jones’ 6,004-word section on intelligent design as science was taken virtually verbatim from the ACLU’s proposed “Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law” submitted to Judge Jones nearly a month before his ruling. Judge Jones even copied several clearly erroneous factual claims made by the ACLU. The finding that most of Judge Jones’ analysis of intelligent design was apparently not the product of his own original deliberative activity seriously undercuts the credibility of Judge Jones’ examination of the scientific validity of intelligent design.’
The Institute points out:
‘Judge Jones even copied the factual errors contained in this document, which was known as “Plaintiffs’ Proposed ‘Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.” For example:
- Jones claimed that biochemist Michael Behe, when confronted with articles supposedly explaining the evolution of the immune system, replied that these articles were “not ‘good enough.’” In reality, Behe said the exact opposite at trial: “it’s not that they aren’t good enough. It’s simply that they are addressed to a different subject.” (emphasis added) The answer cited by Jones came not from Behe, but from the attorneys working with the ACLU, who misquoted Behe.
- Jones claimed that “ID is not supported by any peer-reviewed research, data or publications.” (emphasis added) Again, the actual court record shows otherwise. University of Idaho microbiologist Scott Minnich testified at trial that there are between “seven and ten” peer-reviewed papers supporting ID, and he specifically discussed Stephen Meyer’s explicitly pro-intelligent design article in the peer-reviewed biology journal, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Additional peer-reviewed publications, including William Dembski’s peer-reviewed monograph, The Design Inference (published by Cambridge University Press), were described in an annotated bibliography of peer-reviewed and peer-edited publications supporting ID submitted in an amicus brief accepted as part of the official record of the case. Jones’ false assertions about peer-review simply copied false claims made by attorneys working with the ACLU.’
Jones’ ‘reasoning’ came under fire even from some of those strongly opposed to teaching ID. E.g. Jay D. Wexler, Professor of Law, Boston University Law School, Kitzmiller and the ‘Is it Science?’ Question, 5 First Amendment Law Review 90, 93, 2006, as cited:
‘The part of Kitzmiller that finds ID not to be science is unnecessary, unconvincing, not particularly suited to the judicial role, and even perhaps dangerous both to science and to freedom of religion.’
However, Jones knew that by ruling the way the ACLU and Leftmedia desired would finally lift him from obscurity and into the pages of Time and the lecture circuit. He has subsequently stated how excited he was that he was trying such a high profile case, and even bragged to his wife about his case appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone. Contrast this with the ruling by another jurist the same year, circuit judge Richard Suhrheinrich (with fellow circuit judge Alice Batchelder concurring) in ACLU vs Mercer County (KY, 2005). In this case he ruled against the ACLU, pointing out ‘fundamental flaws’, including the ACLU’s fetish of ‘separation of church and state’, which is lacking in the US Constitution:
‘[T]he ACLU makes repeated reference to “the separation of church and state.” This extra-constitutional construct grows tiresome. The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state … our Nation’s history is replete with governmental acknowledgment and in some cases, accommodation of religion. … (“There is an unbroken history of official acknowledgment by all three branches of government of the role of religion in American life from at least 1789.”) After all, “[w]e are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.” … Thus, state recognition of religion that falls short of endorsement is constitutionally permissible. [Cited court cases omitted] … ’
But Suhrheinrich and Batchelder never made the front pages of Time, or became darlings of the Leftmedia, and their case never appeared on the Rolling Stone cover or anywhere else for that matter. This is despite using their own reasoning from the actual text and context of the Constitution rather than parroting the ACLU as Jones did. Their analysis is also germane to Jones’ repeated self-serving justifications and whinging that the public dares to complain that their betters, unelected people in black robes, hand down law from the bench:
‘If you look at public polls in the United States, at any given time a significant percentage of Americans believe that it is acceptable to teach creationism in public high schools. And that gives rise to an assumption on the part of the public that judges should “get with the program” and make decisions according to the popular will.
‘There’s a problem with that … The framers of the Constitution, in their almost infinite wisdom, designed the legislative and executive branches under Articles I and II to be directly responsive to the public will. They designed the judiciary, under Article III, to be responsive not to the public will—in effect to be a bulwark against public will at any given time—but to be responsible to the Constitution and the laws of the United States.’
This is a misrepresentation of the issue. The complaint was not about the role of the US Constitution, but judges pretending that the Constitution is a ‘living, breathing document’, the meaning of which evolves to match their own policy preferences. An example is activist judges hallucinating an ‘emanation’ or ‘penumbra’ in the American Consitution to justifying the latest liberal cause, as with the notorious exercise of ‘raw judicial power’ in Roe v Wade to invent a constitutional right to abortion. Another example is a judge ordering that Terri Schiavo be dehydrated and starved to death (which Jones supported).
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is well known for advocating that the Constitution should be interpreted according to its original meaning, much as CMI advocates with the Bible. In dissenting from the majority decision in Roper v Simmons in the same year as Dover, Scalia wrote:
‘What a mockery today’s opinion makes of Hamilton’s expectation, announcing the Court’s conclusion that the meaning of our Constitution has changed over the past 15 years—not, mind you, that this Court’s decision 15 years ago was wrong, but that the Constitution has changed.’
Suhrheinrich is one of the few judges to point out that separation of church and state is not in the Constitution. Indeed, the First Amendment merely says:
‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …’ "
If you want to read all the links then go to the article and check out the references and links. ID actually does get peer-reviewed as does creation science. I do have subscriptions to a couple of peer-review publications. Darwinist peer review passed on Piltdown Man among other frauds, so for them to sneer at ID peer review in general and the Discovery Institute in particular is ignorant snobbery at best. In fact it appears to be more and more the case that Darwinism is the religion and ID is the science. In terms of actual evidence that makes more sense.
One scientist, Michael Behe, although not a creationist, has done more to tear Darwinism to shreds than probably any other by his publications and I applaud him for being brave enough to take the heat generated by going against the Darwinist paradigm.
It is notable that Richard Dawkins had not only lambasted Behe for "Darwin's Black Box" but actually pretended to pity him for writing "Edge of Evolution" and yet is afraid to debate Behe in public on either book and either topic. Dawkins is famed for having labeled the large part of DNA as junk (whereas the more we learn the more functionality we discover) and called creationism bunk but was trapped skillfully by Ben Stein in "Expelled" No Intelligence Allowed" into admitting his real position and that would be anything BUT GOD.
Dover was a stupid decision by an ignorant judge manipulated by evil organizations with the bribe of notoriety. Jones has had his fifteen minutes. His decision sticks out like a sore thumb, yet another example of illogical unreasoning Darwinism.
Darwinism is the enemy of true science, being the subject of so many studies and grants and pieces of lab equipment and radio teloscopes and valuable time and effort of so many with little or nothing to gain. The curse of the Middle/Dark Ages was the search for the Philosopher's Stone. The curse of the end of the so-called "Age of Reason" was Darwinism, which stands against all reason. How long before Darwin is cast into the wastebin with vampires and werewolves and voodoo and witchcraft and conjurer's spells?