Home > Great American Court Cases > Tennessee v. Scopes

Legal Citation: 278 S.W. 57 (1925)

Plaintiff
State of Tennessee

Defendant
John Thomas Scopes

Chief Prosecutors
William Jennings Bryan; A.T. Stewart, Attorney General of Tennessee

Chief Defense Lawyers
Clarence Darrow, Arthur Garfield Hays, Dudley Field Malone

Judge
John T. Raulston

Place
Dayton, Tennessee

Date of Decision
21 July 1925

Decision
Guilty; however, neither side won the case because the decision was reversed on a technicality involving the judge's error in imposing a fine that legally could only be set by the jury.

Significance
The trial checked the influence of Fundamentalism in public education and stripped William Jennings Bryan of his dignity as a key figure in American political history. It also marked the displacement of religious faith and rural values...