1925年3月23日美国田纳西州颁布法令，禁止在课堂上讲授「演化论」。美国公民自由联盟便寻求一位自愿在法庭上验证这条法律的田纳西教师，于是制造了轰动整个美国乃至整个世界的历史性事件:「猴子审判」(Monkey trial)。又因涉案的教师名叫斯科普斯(John Thomas Scopes)所以也叫「斯科普斯案」(Scopes Case)。为斯科普斯辩护的律师团领袖是著名的刑事法专家、民权律师克拉伦斯·达罗（Clarence Darrow）。

The Scopes Trial, formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes and commonly referred to as the Scopes Monkey Trial, was an American legal case in 1925 in which a substitute high school teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school. The trial was deliberately staged to attract publicity to the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, where it was held. Scopes was unsure whether he had ever actually taught evolution, but he purposely incriminated himself so that the case could have a defendant.