Posted on 01/06/2006 8:07:53 AM PST by MRMEAN
The Dover Area School District might learn as early as next week how much it owes in legal fees for its losing court battle over intelligent design.
Those fees will exceed $1 million, said Witold Walczak, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the organizations that represented 11 Dover parents who successfully sued the district to have the intelligent design policy rescinded.
Walczak and another lawyer involved in the case said they were uncertain whether the fees would approach $2 million. He said the total could be known as early as next week or by the end of the month.
A federal judge last month ruled that Dover's policy on intelligent design was religiously motivated and in violation of the First Amendment's establishment clause, which bars government from forming or endorsing a religion. In his ruling, U.S. Middle District Judge John E. Jones III held the district liable for legal fees.
The Dover policy required that ninth-grade students be told that evolution is "not a fact" and that intelligent design is an alternative explanation to the origin of life. Proponents of intelligent design say that some aspects of the universe and life are so complex that they might be the work of an unspecified intelligent designer.
In related news, the district formally discharged the law firm that represented it in the intelligent design trial and will refer all legal issues on the matter to its solicitor -- who warned the school board more than a year ago against adopting the intelligent design policy.
The solicitor, Stephen Russell, said in an interview that he will recommend that the school board not try to seek reimbursement of legal fees from former board members who advocated adoption of the intelligent design policy.
"I have a problem with board members being sued for taking actions that are later found to be wrong," Russell said. "Nobody would run for office."
Nor should the district try to recover legal fees from the Thomas More Law Center, the Christian law firm that represented the district in the case, Russell said.
The district's insurance carrier probably won't pay anything toward legal fees, in part because the school board last year rebuffed the insurer's offer to provide lawyers to represent the district in the intelligent design case, Russell said. The district instead retained the Thomas More Law Center, which represented the district at no charge.
"I'd be surprised if the insurance company would help the district," Russell said.
The insurer also might be dissuaded from making a payout based on the written warning Russell gave to district Superintendent Richard Nilsen on the subject of intelligent design on Aug. 27, 2004, two months before the school board adopted the policy.
In the e-mail to Nilsen, unveiled during the trial in Harrisburg, Russell said, "It may be very difficult to win the case" because it would be perceived that the intelligent design policy "was initiated for religious reasons."
Russell said yesterday he was pleased that Jones agreed with him but not surprised. He said several school board members "were hell-bent on getting what they wanted."
Russell informed the Thomas More Law Center on Wednesday that its services were no longer needed by the board, which on Tuesday voted to rescind the intelligent design policy and not appeal Jones' ruling.
"We're officially done," said Richard Thompson, president of the law center. "This case cried out for an appeal, and it was developed for an appeal. But basically, there are no options at this point."
Seven school board candidates opposed to the intelligent design policy were swept into office by Dover voters in November, four days after the six-week trial ended. An eighth candidate, also opposed to the policy, was elected this week in a re-election held in one precinct because of an apparent voting-machine malfunction.
After the lawyers who represented parents opposed to the Dover policy tabulate their legal fees, they will present them to Russell. If the two sides can negotiate an agreement, the case will end.
Parents in the district were represented by the ACLU, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and the Pepper Hamilton law firm in Philadelphia. As many as six Pepper Hamilton lawyers -- including one whose hourly rate is $400 -- were in the courtroom during parts of the trial.
If the two sides can't agree on legal fees, the district could take the issue to court, before Jones. If he were to rule against the district, it would be responsible for paying any additional fees incurred by the plaintiffs to address the fee issue in court.
"This is not about skewering the school district," Walczak said. "This is about recovering our fees."
At the ACLU, "We don't charge our clients," Walczak added. "Very few people can afford to fight in court on matters of principle. The fact we are willing to do cases at no cost to our clients is an important guarantee of constitutional rights."
In December 2004, Pepper Hamilton, the ACLU and Americans United offered not to seek legal fees if the district dropped its intelligent design policy. The district refused.
Russell said a budget surplus and shifting of spending priorities could help defray some of the legal fees. He said some people have inquired about making donations to help cover the costs.
BILL SULON: 255-8144 or bsulon@patriot-news.com.
Eeeeew, no!
You're defending them because they're Christian. You refuse to condemn lies told in the name of your faith.
Unless lying to infidels doesn't count?
Myself, I don't believe that lying is a Christian act. But if you'll support their lying, maybe I'm wrong?
How convenient ... for the hypocrites.
Actually -not really a false question. It was just my perspective AND I would imagine the perspective that a great majority of Christians hold...
Now will you believe it -maybe, maybe not -IT may not even be possible to consider what it is like to have something taken away if at first one does not even believe that that something exists e.g. God...
Case in point -the liberals can not believe how the "red states" tended to vote (moral values) -THEY do not get it and will never get it SO what do they do -they say that the red staters e.g. 'Christians' are stupid -stupid talibans... LOL - yup real stupid...
Actually for everyone it is available... Even those Christians you choose to disparage by calling hypocrites when you do not know what is in thier hearts
I don't care what a fool like you might think is in their hearts when they have shown by their actions that they cannot be trusted. Ever. They should be held accountable under the law and sent to prison for perjury and malfeasance.
No -if you read my postings I objectively stated that perjury is wrong -period. I could get into a theological debate and show that in some cases perjury MAY be legtimately employed as a considered lesser of two evils; however, as it regards this case there would be no legitimate excuse to lie that I can see...
Actually there was no need to tell me you do not care what I think -this much was already obvious. The fool bit though is something new...
LOL
Actually the argument comes before this... It is that we only know the right thing because of God... If not for God then what is right or wrong is debateable e.g. morally relative and situationally derived... Punishment, Hell or consequence is a result of doing bad...
SO -doing the right thing first and foremost requires knowing the right thing to do...
Raise your eyes unto the sky (during daylight) to apprehend the inaccuracy of your statement.
I think this subject of lying, no matter who does it is a really touchy subject...and from my own perspective, here is why I think why..
Very often on these evo/Id/creationist threads, things get heated up...People will show up, who will make sure that everyone knows that they are a Christian, and as a Christian, they go on to almost claim a moral high ground...they then state as a fact, that all who believe in evolution MUST be atheists(which is in itself a lie), and as such they then go on to practically condemn to hell, anyone who believe in evolution...to further complicate things, they then go on to spread 'false' stories, stories which they know are false, and when caught in the 'lie', they either run away, or say, well, it does not matter anyway...
But it does matter, when someone shows up, claims they are a Christian, claims a moral high ground, and then lies about something concerning evolution...how can one claim to be a Christian, and then continually lie on purpose...and it is on purpose...because they have been shown time and time again, where they are wrong, they are provided information concerning how they are wrong, and yet they refuse to read it, toss it off with some sort of weird hand waving gesture, and still try to claim the moral high ground...it makes no sense...
Lying is lying, as far as I am concerned...if someone lies, they need to be called out for it, regardless of their position, regardless of what side of an arguement they support...whether one is a Christian,(in its many and varied denominations), an atheist, a Hindu, a Moslem, or whatever...lying is lying and lying is wrong...
On the other hand, Philip Johnson, a law proefssor, is perfectly qualified to write a series of books critical of evolution.
Seconded!
Go placidly amid the noise and waste and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof. Avoid quiet and passive persons unless you are in need of sleep. Rotate your tires. Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself and heed well their advice, even though they be turkeys; know what to kiss and when. Consider that two wrongs never make a right but that three do. Wherever possible, put people on hold. Be comforted that in the face of all aridity and disillusionment and despite the changing fortunes of time, there is always a big future in computer maintenance ... Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls would scarcely get your feet wet. Fall not in love therefore; it will stick to your face ... Reflect that whatever misfortune may be your lot, it could only be worse in Milwaukee. You are a fluke of the universe; you have no right to be here, and whether you can hear it or not, the universe is laughing behind your back. Therefore make peace with your God whatever you conceive him to be--Hairy Thunderer or Cosmic Muffin. With all its hopes, dreams, promises, and urban renewal, the world continues to deteriorate. Give up.
Author -- Tony Hendra
Being omniscient, God would know in advance how it all turns out. It's a mystery to me how you disobery a creator who knows in advance how you are going to behave, and who designed you do do exactly whatever it is you do.
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