Kramer Levin Files Amicus Brief in First Amendment Case

On June 10, 2005, Kramer Levin filed an amicus curiae brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in a potentially landmark First Amendment establishment clause case involving the placement of an evolution disclaimer sticker in high school science textbooks in the public schools of Cobb County, Georgia.  The sticker states, among other things, that "evolution is a theory, not a fact" and singles out evolution for special scrutiny.  The Kramer Levin brief argued that "the district court correctly held that, regardless of the School Board’s purpose in adopting the sticker, the sticker has the impermissible effect of sending a message that the School Board has taken the side of religious objectors in the debate over the teaching of evolution."  Kramer Levin's brief was authored by litigation partner Eric Tirschwell and Special Counsel Marjorie Sheldon, with the assistance of litigation associates Joshua Kelner and Nugzari Jakobishvili.  The brief was filed pro bono on behalf of the American Jewish Congress, an organization founded in 1918 to protect the civil, political, economic and religious rights of American Jews that has participated in many cases involving the constitutional principles guaranteeing the separation of church and state.