Judicial Independence

Judge John E. Jones, III spoke on the role of an independent and impartial judiciary and its importance in the U.S. democratic system.

Judge Jones, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court by President George W. Bush, presided over the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover. In December 2005 he ruled in favor of the 11 Dover, Pennsylvania parents who sued their local school district for teaching intelligent design in public schools. He talked about his decision in that case that intelligent design is a religious belief and not a scientific theory, and that teaching it in public schools violated the U.S. Constitution’s requirement of separation of church and state. He also talked about the intimidation of judges and the importance of an impartial judiciary. After his presentation he responded to audience members' questions. close