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The Scopes Conviction
The jury found John Scopes guilty and the judge imposed a fine of $100.00. When asked if he had anything to say, Scopes responded:
Your Honor, I feel that I have been convicted of violating an unjust statute. I will continue in the future, as I have in the past to oppose this law in any way I can. Any other action would be in violation of my ideal of academic freedom.
The ACLU had gotten what they wanted, a conviction. They appealed the case at the Tennessee Supreme Court. While Scopes conviction was overturned, the ACLU did not get the result they were hoping for. The court ended up overturning the case because of a “technicality: the Court had set the fine instead of the jury.” As such the constitutionality of the law was neither proven nor disproven, and the Butler Law remained on the books for another forty years.
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