Peloza v. Capistrano School District

Peloza v. Capistrano School District
Court	United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Full case name	Peloza v. Capistrano School District
Argued	June 9, 1993
Decided	October 4, 1994
Citation(s)	37 F.3d 517 (9th Cir. 1994) 94 Ed. Law Rep. 1159
Case history
Prior history	782 F. Supp. 1412 (C.D. Cal. 1992)
Court membership
Judge(s) sitting	William A. Fletcher, Cecil F. Poole, David R. Thompson
Case opinions
Per curiam
Concur/dissent	Poole
Laws applied
First Amendment

Peloza v. Capistrano Unified School District, 37 F.3d 517 (9th Cir. 1994), was a 1994 court case heard by United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in which a creationist schoolteacher, John E. Peloza claimed that Establishment clause of the United States Constitution along with his own right to free speech was violated by the requirement to teach the "religion" of "evolutionism". The court found against Peloza, finding that evolution was science not religion and that the Capistrano Unified School District school board were right to restrict his teaching of creationism in light of the 1987 Supreme Court decision Edwards v. Aguillard. One of the three appeals judges, Poole, partially dissented from the majority's free speech and due process opinions. It was one in a long line court cases involving the teaching of creationism which have found against creationists. Peloza appealed to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.