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There are many decisions by the Supreme Court that I'm not happy with, but trial court judges like Jones are constrained to follow precedents. Some get frisky and feel empowered to impose their own interpretations, but conservative judges -- and Jones appears to be such -- follow the precedents set by the higher courts.

Besides, in all this wailing about the 1st and 14th Amendments, don't forget that Jones also found the actions of the Dover school board to be in violation of the Penna state constitution. (There was also a violation of the Georgia constitution in the Cobb County sticker case.)

Kitzmiller et al. v Dover Area School District et al.. Excerpts:

For the reasons that follow, we hold that the ID Policy is unconstitutional pursuant to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and Art. I, § 3 of the Pennsylvania Constitution.

Here's what that section of the state's constitution says:

All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences; no man can of right be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship or to maintain any ministry against his consent; no human authority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience, and no preference shall ever be given by law to any religious establishments or modes of worship.

Continuing with Jones' opinion, he says, just before the conclusion:

In discussing the provisions of Art. I, § 3, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court explained:
The principles enunciated in this part of our Constitution reflected a concern for the protection of the religious freedoms of Pennsylvanians long before the first amendment to the United States Constitution was made applicable to the states through the fourteenth amendment . . . The protection of rights and freedoms secured by this section of our Constitution, however, does not transcend the protection of the first amendment of the United States Constitution. [omitting citation]
Consequently, our discussion of the issues raised under the federal constitution applies with equal vigor to the issues raised by Plaintiffs that are grounded in our state constitution. In light of this Court's prior ruling that the ID Policy violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, the Court likewise concludes that the ID Policy is violative of Plaintiffs' rights under the Pennsylvania Constitution.

Good point on the Penn State constitution. That seals it.

The decision did follow precedent re. the First, as a good conservative judge should have ruled. That I have a beef with the precedent is another issue entirely.

The Dover school board not only damaged conservative politics, but it also damaged any future attempt to turn around the current restrictive interpretation of the First. Christian conservatives might have had a chance in cases such as crosses on city seals (Los Angeles - City of Angels) if they hadn't shot their wad politically on these idiotic ID cases.