Final answer:
U.S. Supreme Court decisions on Epperson v. Arkansas, 1968, struck down laws prohibiting the teaching of evolution. Option 2 is correct.
Step-by-step explanation:
In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Epperson v. Arkansas that laws banning the teaching of evolution were unconstitutional. This decision invalidated an Arkansas statute that prohibited the teaching of evolution in public schools. The Court held that the law violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by promoting a particular religious viewpoint—creationism—over scientific teachings.
Prior to this, the famous Scopes Trial in 1925 (The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes) involved a similar issue, where a teacher was prosecuted for teaching evolution, though the conviction was based on a technicality rather than the law being struck down.
Similarly, in 1987, Edwards v. Aguillard addressed the issue of teaching creationism alongside evolution but didn't directly strike down laws prohibiting teaching evolution. The 2005 case of Kitzmiller v. Dover also addressed teaching evolution and intelligent design but in a different context—ruling against the mandate to teach intelligent design as an alternative to evolution, though it didn't directly strike down laws prohibiting teaching evolution.
Correct answer: 2) Epperson v. Arkansas, 1968.