Legal News for Fri 3/13 - Judge Newman Appeals to SCOTUS, CFTC Rules for Prediction Markets, Fed Challenge to CA EV Mandates and Tariff Refunds Updates

Minimum Competence · Mar 13, 2026 · 8m

This Day in Legal History: Butler Act

On March 13, 1925, the Tennessee General Assembly approved the Butler Act, a statute that made it unlawful for public school teachers to present any theory that denied the biblical account of human creation. The law specifically prohibited teaching that humans evolved from lower forms of life, reflecting growing tensions between scientific ideas and religious beliefs in early twentieth-century America. Tennessee lawmakers framed the statute as a way to protect traditional moral values in public education. Critics, however, immediately argued that the law…