HELENA – Former Montana solicitor general and current Montana Supreme Court candidate Lawrence VanDyke in 2004 wrote a book review in the Harvard Law Review that caused a stir among legal scholars and intelligent design advocates.

VanDyke is challenging incumbent Supreme Court Justice Mike Wheat in the Nov. 4 election.

VanDyke's 2004 book note reviewed Francis J. Beckwith's "Law, Darwinism, and the Public Education," which sets forth a legal argument in favor of allowing the concept of intelligent design to be taught in public school classrooms.

Supporters of intelligent design contend that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection," according to the Seattle-based Center for Science and Culture, an organization that advocates for the teaching of intelligent design.

Critics of intelligent design argue the intelligent design "theory" was contrived by supporters of creationism to sidestep a U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring the teaching of biblical creationism in public school classrooms. In 1987, the Supreme Court ruled a Louisiana law requiring public schools to teach creationism alongside evolution unconstitutional on the basis that the law violated the establishment clause by advancing a particular religion.

In his book note for the Harvard Law Review VanDyke wrote: "…while lumping ID with creationism may be a good rhetorical strategy for ID's opponents, it only detracts from an independent and rigorous evaluation of the merits of ID's claims against those of naturalistic evolution."

In 2005, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled teaching intelligent design in public schools is also a violation the establishment clause.

Brian Leiter, who in 2004 was the director of the Law and Philosophy Program at the University of Texas Law School, wrote a series of blistering critiques of VanDyke's book review on his legal blog, LeiterReports.com.

Leiter wrote at the time that VanDyke's review was "riddled with factual errors and misleading innuendo from start to finish" and accused VanDyke of "scholarly fraud."

"Mr. VanDyke has perpetrated (intentionally or otherwise) a scholarly fraud, one that may have political and pedagogical consequences," Leiter wrote. "Mr. VanDyke's book note reads like a press release from the Discovery Institute — the Seattle-based public relations arm of the creationist movement — and not like a scholarly review of a book."

VanDyke said Leiter was one of those who "seriously mischaracterized" the book note, especially VanDyke's own commentary.

"Most of the book note simply reported Dr. Beckwith's arguments," VanDyke said. "My limited commentary focused on whether First Amendment law was being improperly influenced by the genetic fallacy — something that is an interesting academic question for constitutional law in many contexts well beyond intelligent design."

The debate spilled over into other online forums and even caught the attention of the conservative magazine National Review, which came to VanDyke's defense with a and stinging criticism of Leiter's critique.

"VanDyke found Beckwith's arguments convincing and said so in his book note," wrote freelance writer Hunter Baker in the National Review Online in a March 2004 article on the magazine's website. "Such a sin could not go unpunished or unpublicized by those who hold to the inerrancy of the Darwinian scriptures."

Baker then accused Leiter of threatening VanDyke's future law career.

"The tone of his post makes clear that he means this student editor of the Harvard Law Review harm. Leiter's statement is the equivalent of an academic temper tantrum and is likely to backfire," Baker wrote.

It was later revealed Baker was Beckwith's graduate assistant in a doctoral program in Church-State Studies at Baylor University.

In a recent interview with the Tribune, Leiter, who is now director for the Center for Law, Philosophy, and Human Values at the University of Chicago Law School, stood by his harsh critique of VanDyke's review.

"That review was intellectually dishonest and incompetent. Either he (VanDyke) wasn't smart enough to realize that, or he was so motivated by his religious commitments that he doesn't care," Leiter said. "Are his religious commitments so strong that it's going to lead him to ignore the law when they conflict? In that book review, he ignored the science, he ignored the philosophy and he ignored the logic. That would be bad news if he does the same thing as a judge."

VanDyke said his own personal beliefs about intelligent design are "irrelevant" to how he would approach the issue as a justice if it came before the Montana supreme court.

"I would approach the issue, like every other issue, by asking what is 'the will of the people as that will is expressed in the law' and constitution, and faithfully apply that," VanDyke said.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2685797&forum_id=2#26409209)

Leiter taking an ax and smashing a crate full of third-tier law review journals that were to have been smuggled into law libraries up and down the east coast, as the press snaps photos and asks him, "You say you're going to clean up this town's scholarship. But aren't you worried ... won't Campos come after you?" To which Leiter hoists the ax over his shoulder, looks into the camera, and says, "I sure as hell hope so," and brings it down on with a loud CRACK on a multi-volume set of opinions from state supreme courts.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2685797&forum_id=2#26414738)

"SHIT boys it's a setup get out GET OUT!"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2685797&forum_id=2#26414780)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2685797&forum_id=2#27059053)

By the way, electing state judges is retarded.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2685797&forum_id=2#27058975)

THE SCHOLARLY FRAUD, THE SCHOLARLY FRAUD

HIDING IN FARTHEST MONTANA

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2685797&forum_id=2#27059051)