Free speech rights survived epic challenge from man who tried to monkey with them in 'Trial of the Century'
Fox News
In 1925, a young schoolteacher and his intrepid defense lawyer challenged a law that sought to suffocate scientific learning and freedom of expression or thought.
Gregg Jarrett is a Fox News legal analyst and commentator, and formerly worked as a defense attorney and adjunct law professor. His upcoming book, "The Trial of the Century," about the famous "Scopes Monkey Trial" will be released on May 30, 2023. It is available now for pre-order online at the Simon & Schuster website. Gregg is the author of the No. 1 New York Times best-selling book "The Russia Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump." His follow-up book was also a New York Times bestseller, "Witch Hunt: The Story of the Greatest Mass Delusion in American Political History." Jarrett’s book, "The Constitution of the United States and Other Patriotic Documents," will be published by Broadside Books, a division of HarperCollins on September 19, 2023.
The biography told the story of the finest trial attorney who ever lived, Clarence Darrow. I admired his passion for the law, his abiding sense of justice, and his unyielding commitment to civil liberties and intellectual freedom. A fearless iconoclast, he dared to confront prevailing beliefs. He opposed the increasing demands for social and religious conformity. Often a solitary figure, Darrow battled against government intrusion on individual rights.
These revered principles were in jeopardy during Darrow’s most famous case, the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial. The sobriquet was derived from an evolutionary misconception that humans evolved from monkeys or other primates. Two years ago, I was granted access to the archives of the courthouse that still stands and obtained the original trial transcript on which "The Trial of the Century" is based.
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