Cobb Victory

Posted 5 May 2005 by Reed A. Cartwright

↗ The current version of this post is on the live site: https://pandasthumb.org/archives/2005/05/cobb-victory.html

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has denied the Cobb County School District’s request to stay the removal of the evolution disclaimers stuck on thirty-four thousand biology textbooks until after the circuit has ruled on the district’s appeal. The Marietta Daily Journal has the scoop:

Marietta attorney Michael Manely, who, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, defended the plaintiffs in district court, said that to get a stay, it has to be proven that the case is likely to succeed on its own merits.

“This showed it’s not likely to prevail,” Manely said. “It’s the first serious nail in the coffin from the Court of Appeals. They are expressing their preliminary thoughts on the subject. This is like a preview of what is certain to come. It tells the board that this corpse is beginning to smell really bad.”

School staff has already experimented with removing the stickers, using such things as nail polish. Removing so many stickers will not be easy, she said.

“I’m going to offer to help take out the stickers,” said east Cobb parent Jeffrey Selman, who filed suit against the school board in August 2001, along with the ACLU, claiming the stickers were unconstitutional.

“I bet I can get a whole bunch of people to help them,” Selman said. “God bless the judges. They can see right through this sham.”

Prof. Steve Steve has also offered to come back to Georgia to do his part in removing the disclaimers.

15 Comments

ivy privy · 5 May 2005

Off-topic here -

I am rather peeved that Michael Behe spoke at Cornell University last night and I didn't hear about it until afterwards. The talk was in a student dormitory (Alice Cook House), and word of it did not reach my department. I have as yet heard no details on his presentation.

Bill Ware · 5 May 2005

Nail polish remover? Why don't they take a few seconds to cover these stickers with a larger sized picture of the flag or something else equally innocuous, rather than take fifteen minutes to remove each one with nail polish remover? Yikes!

Keanus · 5 May 2005

I'd suggest the stickers be left in place but covered by a sticker bearing the text of the First Amendment to the Constitution. The plaintiffs might even offer to supply such stickers. And while they're at it, they might print up cards with the same copy to be given to every student in the Cobb County high schools. On second thoughts, perhaps, the Cobb County Board of Education should receive copies of the entire Constitution, something they've apparently never read.

Roadtripper · 5 May 2005

Covering the stickers would be easier, but if the court order says they're to be removed, the plaintiffs in this case would be wisest to follow the court's instructions to the letter. If they failed to to do this properly, would there be any legal reprecussions, or am I just being paranoid?

Roadtripper · 5 May 2005

Please replace "plaintiffs" with "defendants" in my previous post. Then, if possible, replace my brain with a working model....

bill · 5 May 2005

Continuing off-topic:

Behe is on a roll. At UC Davis: http://www.californiaaggie.com/article/?id=8915

Campus news simply reports what Behe said. No rebuttal.

socrateaser · 5 May 2005

Covering the stickers would be easier, but if the court order says they're to be removed, the plaintiffs in this case would be wisest to follow the court's instructions to the letter. If they failed to to do this properly, would there be any legal reprecussions, or am I just being paranoid?
— roadtripper

"Di minimis non curat lex," or "The law does not concern itself with trifles." If the school district were to cover the stickers in a manner that would effectively render it impossible to remove the cover, that would satisfy the court order. However, if the district really thinks that there is a cost v. benefit issue, then their attorney could ask the judge for a clarification (i.e., $1,000 for attorney to obtain a clarification order, v. the cost of employing minimum wage workers to remove the stickers, plus the cost of the nail polish, etc.). :)

Rafi · 5 May 2005

Hair dryers: The perfect stciker removal tool. The glue melts and you can peel the stickers come right off in seconds. I am willing to donate my hair dryer.

Great White Wonder · 5 May 2005

More great (but not particularly surprising) news!!

Thanks for the update Reed.

JimboK · 5 May 2005

I think that the American Flag cover sticker is a good idea...

Or possibly a sticker that says "Errata" (in very large type) to cover them...

It would be even better if the Cobb board members who voted to put the "disclaimers" in the texts were the ones to remove/cover their
boneheaded, anti-science manuever.

Roadtripper · 5 May 2005

Thanks for explaining that, socrateaser, I'm no "legal eagle" myself. I think it would be poetic justice if the 2300 citizens who petitioned for those stickers to begin with helped remove them. That's only 14.7826 stickers per creationist, which isn't all that much work.

Great White Wonder · 5 May 2005

Some related court cases in the news: http://www.pandagon.net/archives/2005/05/you_have_the_fr.html

The 4th Circuit ruled Chesterfield County's Board of Supervisors did not show impermissible motive in refusing to permit a pantheistic invocation by a Wiccan because its list of clergy who registered to conduct invocations covers a wide spectrum of Judeo-Christian denominations. Simpson v. Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors, No. 04-1045 (April 14). Chesterfield County is in the Richmond suburbs. "The Judeo-Christian tradition is, after all, not a single faith but an umbrella covering many faiths," Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote in the opinion.

I wonder if Judge Wilkinson's religion falls under that umbrella?

Great White Wonder · 5 May 2005

Check out this hilarious picture!

http://www.balloon-juice.com/archives/protestors.gif

speck · 6 May 2005

No! Is that picture real or staged?!!

Great White Wonder · 6 May 2005

I subsequently learned it's from an old Onion story. Priceless, though.