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Between 1907 and 1937, 32 American states passed eugenics laws requiring sterilization of citizens deemed to be misfits, such as the mentally infirm.  Oliver Wendell Holmes and all but one conservative Democratic Justice upheld such laws in a Supreme Court decision that included Holmes' offensive statement that "three generations of imbeciles are enough."  Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200, 207 (1927).<ref>http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html</ref>  In fact, the third generation "imbecile" was very bright, but was declared by a eugenics "expert" as "supposed to be a mental defective," apparently without an examination.

Between 1907 and 1937, 32 American states passed eugenics laws requiring sterilization of citizens deemed to be misfits, such as the mentally infirm.  Oliver Wendell Holmes and all but one conservative Democratic Justice upheld such laws in a Supreme Court decision that included Holmes' offensive statement that "three generations of imbeciles are enough."  Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200, 207 (1927).<ref>http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html</ref>  In fact, the third generation "imbecile" was very bright, but was declared by a eugenics "expert" as "supposed to be a mental defective," apparently without an examination.

Eugenics was taught as part of the evolution curriculum of many science classes in America in the early 1900s.  For example, it was featured in the textbook used in the famous Scopes trial in 1925.

Eugenics was taught as part of the evolution curriculum of many science classes in America in the early 1900s.  For example, it was featured in the textbook used in the famous Scopes trial in 1925.{{fact}}

   

   

"By 1928, the American Genetics Association boasted that there were 376 college courses devoted exclusively to eugenics.  High-school biology textbooks followed suit by the mid-1930s, with most containing material favorable to the idea of eugenical control of reproduction.  It would thus have been difficult to be an even moderately educated reader in the 1920s or 1930s and not have known, at least in general terms, about the claims of eugenics."<ref>''See'' "Science misapplied: the eugenics age revisited," Technology Review, August-Sep 1996 (Vol. 99, No. 6), at p. 22(10), by Garland E. Allen.</ref>

"By 1928, the American Genetics Association boasted that there were 376 college courses devoted exclusively to eugenics.  High-school biology textbooks followed suit by the mid-1930s, with most containing material favorable to the idea of eugenical control of reproduction.  It would thus have been difficult to be an even moderately educated reader in the 1920s or 1930s and not have known, at least in general terms, about the claims of eugenics."<ref>''See'' "Science misapplied: the eugenics age revisited," Technology Review, August-Sep 1996 (Vol. 99, No. 6), at p. 22(10), by Garland E. Allen.</ref>

Important remnants of the evolution-eugenics approach exist today, in part because many of Justice Holmes' opinions are still controlling law.  The very first quote in the infamous Roe v. Wade abortion decision is an unprincipled statement of Justice Holmes in a 1905 opinion.  Indeed, Holmes once wrote favorably in a letter to a future Supreme Court Justice about "restricting propagation by the undesirables and putting to death infants that didn't pass the examination."<ref>9/3/21 Letter to Felix Frankfurther.  For a detailed criticism of Justice Holmes' judicial Darwinism, see Professor Albert W. Alschuler's Law Without Values: The Life, Work, and Legacy of Justice Holmes (Univ. of Chicago Press 2000).</ref>

Holmes once wrote favorably in a letter to a future Supreme Court Justice about "restricting propagation by the undesirables and putting to death infants that didn't pass the examination."<ref>9/3/21 Letter to Felix Frankfurther.  For a detailed criticism of Justice Holmes' judicial Darwinism, see Professor Albert W. Alschuler's Law Without Values: The Life, Work, and Legacy of Justice Holmes (Univ. of Chicago Press 2000).</ref>

Existing laws requiring students to receive controversial vaccines are based on a eugenics-era decision granting the State the power to forcibly vaccinate residents.<ref>Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905).</ref>  That decision, in fact, was the cited precedent for Justice Holmes' offensive "imbeciles" holding quoted above.

Existing laws requiring students to receive controversial vaccines are based on a eugenics-era decision granting the State the power to forcibly vaccinate residents.<ref>Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905).</ref>  That decision, in fact, was the cited precedent for Justice Holmes' offensive "imbeciles" holding quoted above.