Influencing Policy: Evolution and the First Amendment | Retro Report

This 11-minute video introduces students to the debate surrounding the teaching of evolution in public school classrooms, focusing on how an anti-evolution think tank convinced Louisiana’s state government to change how evolution was taught, and how one high school student waged a campaign backed by 78 Nobel laureates to oppose these changes. This video explores how policy disputes over teaching evolution have been shaped by the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. The video is useful for lessons about the First Amendment and the court rulings that have defined it, or for lessons focused on how single-issue groups and citizens seek to influence public policy.