...if you think the Kitzmiller v. Dover opinion is significant, and will affect the intelligent design debate in any lasting way.

Imagine that every young person in the United States attended the private school of his or her choice. No more public schools; turn them all into private schools, or community centers, or homeless shelters, or whatnot.

Would the design debate go away?

Not a chance. The hypothetical situation I've described was the real situation in England in 1859, when the Origin of Species was published. Darwin attended private (called "public," just for confusion' sake) schools as a young man. So did all of his friends and acquaintances. Genuine public -- as in American tax-supported -- education barely existed, as a hit-or-miss affair, and universal free primary education lay far in the future.

Still, the publication of the Origin created an intellectual and cultural firestorm, as it should have, given its content.

Eliminate the American public education system entirely, with all of its constitutional entanglements, and the debate over design would rage on. As I commented here yesterday (and here earlier), that debate isn't, au fond, a legal or constitutional issue. It's a debate about truth.

Welcome to the post-Kitzmiller world. Back to your previously scheduled programming.