Stephen Jay Gould and McLean v. Arkansas: Scientific Expertise and the Nature of Science in American Culture 1980–1985

Stephen Jay Gould was a Harvard evolutionary biologist who became a prominent media figure and commentator on evolution through the 1970s–1990s. In 1981 Gould was called as an expert witness on behalf of the plaintiffs in the court case McLean v. Arkansas. The lawsuit filed against the state claimed that a state law which mandated the teaching of creation science in Arkansas public schools was unconstitutional because it violated the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution. Therefore it was crucial for the plaintiffs to establish that creation science was not really \u27science\u27 but in fact a religious belief. Gould\u27s testimony along with other scientists, theologians and philosophers helped the plaintiffs win the case, which set a precedent for banning the teaching of creation science in public schools across the country