Back in December, we told you about Christine Comer, who was forced to resign as the director of science curriculum for the Texas Education Agency after she forwarded an email message from the National Center for Science Education (a pro-evolution group) announcing that Barbara Forrest would be speaking in Austin about the "intelligent design" movement in a talk called "Inside Creationism's Trojan Horse." Comer said she was just passing on information; the agency saw it a bias endorsement and terminated her employment. Now, Comer has filed a lawsuit against the agency and Education Commissioner Robert Scott, saying that she was illegally fired and giving us a better and clearer look at the chain of events and the emails that were sent around.
In brief: Comer says she was fired because she wasn't neutral on the topic of creationism, as the agency requires—a policy that is unconstitutional because it endorses religion, she says. She's asking the court to overturn the policy, declare her firing unconstitutional, and require the agency to give her back her job. —Heather Wax