Boy Scouts of America and San Diego-Imperial Council, Boy Scouts of America have filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States asking the Court to review the Ninth Circuit’s recent decisions about Scouting leases in San Diego. The case is Boy Scouts of America v. Barnes-Wallace, No. 08-1222.
Click here to read Boy Scouts' petition to the Supreme Court. A number of organizations also filed amicus briefs in support of Boy Scouts:
Boy Scouts are asking the Court to determine whether the plaintiffs have standing to bring an Establishment Clause challenge to San Diego leases of recreational facilities when they have never visited the facilities and the facilities are available for use by the public and display no religious symbols.
Boy Scouts of America issued the following statement today:
Boy Scouts of America and San Diego-Imperial Council, Boy Scouts of America are disappointed that the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Barnes-Wallace v. Boy Scouts of America has decided to send the case to the California Supreme Court to answer several questions of California constitutional law before the Ninth Circuit issues its ultimate decision. (Read the ruling here.)
Today’s decision from the Ninth Circuit denies review by the full court of a decision the Court issued in June. That decision concluded that plaintiffs, who never even tried to visit properties leased by Boy Scouts, have standing to sue to break the leases from the City of San Diego because they do not like Boy Scouts’ values.
In a dissenting opinion for six Ninth Circuit judges, Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain concluded that the “unprecedented” standing ruling “creates a new legal landscape in which almost anyone who is almost offended by almost anything has standing to air his or her displeasure in court.”
The Philadelphia Daily News reported today that the Cradle of Liberty Council's lawsuit against the City could move forward on First Amendment grounds. A federal judge threw out the City's assertions that, as a matter of law, it did not discriminate against Cradle of Liberty Council. The case will proceed to determine the details about the City's actions against Boy Scouts in light of how the City favorably treats other organizations with their own membership limitations.
U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter said the complaint provided "sufficient allegations" to conclude the city's actions "may have compromised" the chapter's First Amendment rights.
However, he said the court also "lacked a developed record" at this stage of the litigation and more discovery was needed.
Boy Scouts of America and San Diego-Imperial Council, Boy Scouts of America note that the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Barnes-Wallace v. Boy Scouts of America has decided to certify questions of California law to the California Supreme Court. Today’s decision from the Ninth Circuit declines to rule on the merits of the case but instead asks the California Supreme Court to answer questions about California constitutional law that the ACLU raised. “It is disappointing that after all these years, proceedings in the case are to be further extended, especially since, as the dissenting opinion of Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld so forcefully points out, none of the plaintiffs has suffered any injury or has any standing to sue,” said Boy Scouts attorney George A. Davidson.
The Cradle of Liberty Council of Boy Scouts of America today sued the City of Philadelphia to prevent the City from violating the Scouts' constitutional rights.
The Chicago Tribune looks at the Boy Scouts of America in today's newspaper as the organization approaches its centenary in 2010:
"Bruised by America's culture wars, battered by lawsuits alleging that it discriminates against atheists and gays, and beset by eroding enrollments, the Boy Scouts of America is approaching its centenary in 2010 determined to regain its footing as the nation's premier volunteer program to help boys grow into responsible men."
Boy Scouts of America submitted a friend of the court brief to the California Supreme Court in a case about the interpretation of that state’s “Good Samaritan” statute. Van Horn v. Watson, No. S152360. The Good Samaritan statute, Cal. Health & Safety Code § 1799.102, protects from liability those who provide emergency care in good faith at the scene of an emergency. An intermediate appellate court interpreted the statute as applying only to “medical” care in a “medical” emergency and concluded that the statute did not protect a rescuer who pulled someone from a car after a collision because she feared the car would catch fire or blow up.
Boy Scouts of America teaches youth and their leaders to “be prepared,” to “do a good turn daily,” and “to help other people at all times.” Because of their values and training, Scouts do not hesitate to help fellow citizens in need. From 2004 through 2006, Boy Scouts of America awarded medals to over 80 Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts in California for saving lives, and thousands of Boy Scouts have earned merits badges for Emergency Preparedness and Lifesaving. Boy Scouts of America is concerned, however, that the lower court’s construction of California law will discourage citizens from helping one another, especially in emergencies, and subject well-intentioned rescuers to liability. Scouts who help others in time of emergency deserve the gratitude and encouragement of the State and not exposure to law suits.
Here is story about the case from USA Today and an op-ed from the Sierra Sun.
Fox 29 in Philadelphia reports on how Boy Scouts from the Cradle of Liberty Council helped a Philadelphia area family who lost their home in a fire. Interesting contrast: the family was displaced by a fire and the Scouts are being evicted from their headquarters by the city.
Some topics are best left both out of sight and out of mind. The American Civil Liberties Union's war on the Boy Scouts is not one of them.
The ACLU, in a rational world, might well have been expected to champion the First Amendment rights of an organization like the Boy Scouts. After all, the First Amendment to the Constitution (so dear to the ACLU) protects both speech and the right to associate.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2000 upheld the right of the Boy Scouts to select members and leaders without regard to state laws that bar discrimination based on sexual orientation.
That ruling hasn't stopped the ACLU. It has simply shifted tactics away from the courts and focused its energies on local and often mean-spirited campaigns to deny the Scouts places to meet and the ability to raise funds.
From today's Philadelphia Daily News, Christine M. Flowers writes that the city is wrong on the Scouts:
CHILDREN are dying in the streets. Cops are targets. The murder toll is one a day.
But City Hall thinks Public Enemy No. 1 is the Boy Scouts of America.
City Solicitor Rom- ulo Diaz, backed by a weak-spined City Council, has pursued the Scouts with something akin to vengeance, cloaked in the language of equality.
"While we respect the right of the Boy Scouts to prohibit participation in its activities by homosexuals," the solicitor, Romulo Diaz, said last week in an interview, "we will not subsidize that discrimination by passing on the costs to the people of Philadelphia."
But Robert Knight of the Media Research Center writes on Townhall.com that WAPO left out a few things in its reporting:
· The architect of the harassment against the Scouts, City Solicitor Diaz, is openly homosexual, as has been reported in the Philadelphia press.
· The Scouts built the building with their own money, and then gave it to the city in 1928.
· The Scouts had a lease “in perpetuity” with the city, an agreement the City Council broke.
The vice mayor of Cambridge, MA, weighs in at length today in the Boston Herald.
While this is an extremely unfortunate event, it was caused by an apparent lack of communication and understanding rather than the malicious intent of any of the parties involved.
Although the Scouts had informed the Election Commission of their intent and received encouragement from the City Council, the individual polling locations had not been notified in time and therefore had not granted the necessary permissions to Troop 45. The decision had nothing to do with politics; this event was politicized by the media, not by the city.
Columnist David Limbaugh adds his perspective on Townhall.com.
Retired Army officer, Robert Maginnis offers his take on the incident in Human Events.
Cambridge dust up on Fox News Friday night. Laura Ingraham filling in for Bill O'Reilly interviewed a lawyer from Cambridge, although it was not clear what if any connection he had to the issue.
While the Boston Herald reported that Cambridge's vice mayor essentially apologized for the removal of Boy Scout collection boxes from polling places last week and blamed the incident on a breakdown in communication, other city officials apparently aren't quite so contrite. According to the Cambridge Chronicle:
City Manager Bob Healy doesn’t think election officials made an error last week when they removed dozens of donation boxes meant for troops from polling stations after someone complained they were “pro-war.” In an e-mail to the Chronicle, Healy also called the Election Commission’s decision a “non-issue.”
...“This non-issue has been escalated way out of proportion in the ‘real world’ of running a city, by a barrage of e-mails, many not from Cambridge residents,” Healy said in the e-mail. “The law, on ‘political statements’ is very clear.”
But the Scouts say that no political statement was intended or implied, only an effort to collect donations of toiletries, magazines and other amenities for U.S. troops serving in Iraq. The Massachusetts Secretary of State's office told the Chronicle that political messages relating to the election are prohibited, but there is no law stopping someone from promoting an unrelated political message within 150 feet of any polling place, the Secretary's office told the Chronicle.
The Boston Herald reports, and its editors opine, about the Cambridge Boy Scouts whose efforts to collect donations for U.S. soldiers in Iraq were thwarted by the city's Election Commission. Cambridge's vice mayor says it was all a big misunderstanding and promised to work with the Scouts to "ensure that their goals are fully realized."
“We just wanted to make a lot of troops happy,” said Scout Patrick O’Connor, 16. [pictured at right] “I was devastated that someone would think to take (the donation boxes) out,” he said.
The paper's editorial page was somewhat more annoyed by the incident.
The Cambridge (MA) Chronicle reported yesterday that a the local Election Commission removed Boy Scout donation boxes for US troops from polling places last week.
Election officials ordered the removal of donation boxes set up by a troop of Cambridge Boy Scouts of America during last Tuesday’s municipal election. The boxes were set up inside the 33 polling stations around the city to collect donations for soldiers serving overseas in the war in Iraq.
Marsha Weinerman, executive director of the city’s Election Commission, said the boxes were removed after a resident complained to commission workers about their implied “pro-war” message.
Jamisean Patterson, the Cambridge troop's committee chairman, wrote a column in the Chronicle explaining that the Scouts asked permission of the Election Commission not once, but twice.
Our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, family, friends and neighbors are overseas fighting for the right to have free speech and for people to have their own opinions on things. They are fighting for our freedom and we cannot even collect a few items and send it over to them.This was not supporting the war or any politician or political view.
The last fire evacuees are leaving Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. Boy Scouts were there to help reports today's San Diego Union Tribune:
Brian Miller was the last person out of the stadium and the only one on the final bus leaving for Del Mar. The Escondido resident lost his home, and possibly his cat, in the Witch Creek fire.
“Thank you very much. God bless you guys,” Miller said as Boy Scouts helped him carry a mattress and a bag of clothes and bedding.
“I'm going to try and regroup and find my cat and get my papers together,” he said. “I keep thinking it's over and I'm going to be back home, but home is gone. I'm trying to muster up the energy.”
News coverage of the fires in California is at once frightening and inspiring. There are a lot of stories of people helping people, but this being a Boy Scout website we are focused on these tidbits in the news:
Trying to find sleeping accommodations for 4,200 people meant mobilizing vast resources. The Navy donated hundreds of tents, which were set up along two levels of the stadium by—who else?—a couple of troops of Boy Scouts. Extra tents were set up in the parking lot as a kind of tent city.
Carl DeMaio, 33, evacuated his home at dawn, drove straight to Qualcomm Stadium and started organizing volunteers who arrived even before city officials did. Mr. DeMaio, who is the president of a nonpartisan government watchdog organization, organized at least 400 volunteers and tons of donated food, mattresses, blankets and other gifts.
“How many of you have set up a tent before?” he said, addressing a queue of volunteers. A few hands shot up. “Come with me. We have a few Boy Scouts who can supervise you.”
The Associated Press reports that a Scout troop from the Cradle of Liberty Council came to the rescue of a hiker who had fallen and hit her head on the Appalachian Trail, building a stretcher from scratch and carrying her 3 miles to help:
Jane B. Scholl of Mohnton was hiking on Blue Mountain in northern Berks County with a friend Saturday. As the two reached the Pinnacle, a popular overlook, Scholl was looking for a good spot to take pictures when she fell about 5 feet.
"I landed right on my eye," she said Sunday. "I was cut and bleeding and felt really woozy."
Scholl, 41, and the friend started down the mountain, but Scholl began to feel worse. That's when they ran into Boy Scout Troop 226 from Rockledge in Montgomery County.
"As we were hiking back down we caught up to her and that's when we saw that she was bleeding," scoutmaster Christopher J. Gallagher said. The eight Scouts built a stretcher from tree branches and their sweat shirts.
October 19, 2007--Political Correctness: The city of Philadelphia raises the nominal rent on a city building the Boy Scouts use because it says the group discriminates against gays. Is the City of Brotherly Love the one being intolerant?
The Boy Scouts' Philadelphia branch, called the Cradle of Liberty Council, had been renting the Beaux Arts building, which stands on city-owned land, for $1 a year. The city has now ordered the Scouts to pay a "fair market" rent of $200,000 on the grounds that the group refuses to admit openly gay Scouts and Scout leaders.
"We know there are gay scouts," says Scout spokesman Jeff Jubelirer. "Of course there are. We don't care. Nobody cares." He describes the national organization's policy as a variation of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
But the Boy Scouts, who require a belief in God and therefore also "discriminate" against atheists, are not comfortable with the idea of openly homosexual men leading young boys into the woods.
The Boy Scouts of America's refusal to bend its rules to permit gay scouts will cost the organization's local chapter $200,000 a year if it wishes to keep its headquarters in a city-owned building on Logan Square.
Representatives of the Boy Scouts of America's Cradle of Liberty Council were notified that to remain in their 79-year-old landmark headquarters, they needed to pay the city a "fair market" rent, Fairmount Park Commission president Robert N.C. Nix said yesterday. Currently, the rent is $1 a year.
WASHINGTON — A 17-year-old Eagle Scout wanting to honor his grandfather's "love of God, country and family" with a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol has helped remove a ban on the word "God" in certificates that accompany these flags.
The acting Architect of the Capitol, Stephen Ayers, said Thursday he was revising guidelines on Capitol flag certificates because it was "beyond the scope of this agency's responsibilities to censor messages from members of Congress."
Area Scouts honor Maj. Rick Gannon, who was killed in Iraq, and others on Memorial Day
Published May 27, 2007, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
By E.B. FURGURSON III, Staff Writer
Maj. Rick Gannon was only in Annapolis for two years, but the Marine Corps officer had a profound impact both at the U.S. Naval Academy and on local Cub Scouts he led.
His leadership here was but a preamble to that which he displayed in later commands; out front, setting a high and tough example that his Marines would "follow down the barrel of a cannon" one said.
It was the same mettle and bravery he exhibited in Iraq, along the Syrian border, where he was killed during a firefight on April 17, 2004.
The courage that earned him the Silver Star, and the eternal honor of his brothers, might have come from birth.
BSALEGAL.org today interviewed George A. Davidson, BSA National Counsel, about the Seventh Circuit's ruling this week in the Jamboree case. Listen to the podcast by clicking on the podcast icon.
Irving, TX / April 4, 2007 — Boy Scouts of America is pleased that the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit dismissed the ACLU’s lawsuit against the Department of Defense for supporting the National Scout Jamboree. (Click here to read opinion) Boy Scouts of America is grateful also for the efforts of the Department of Justice in achieving this successful outcome.
For more than 25 years, Boy Scouts have held the National Scout Jamboree every four years at Fort A.P. Hill near Fredericksburg, Virginia. Scouts from all over the country camp together for ten days and participate in activities emphasizing physical fitness, appreciation of the outdoors, and patriotism. Seven Presidents have attended the Jamboree since President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937. The Jamboree grounds at Fort A.P. Hill are open to the public, and an estimated 300,000 visitors attended in 2005 along with 43,000 Scouts and their leaders. The 2010 Jamboree will celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Boy Scouts of America.
The United States Congress has found that the military’s logistical support for the National Scout Jamboree is an incomparable training opportunity for our armed forces. The Jamboree requires the construction, maintenance, and disassembly of a “tent city” capable of supporting tens of thousands of people for a week or longer.
Nevertheless, the ACLU sued the Department of Defense in 1999 over its support for the Jamboree. In 2005, a federal district court in Chicago concluded the Jamboree statute (10 U.S.C. § 2554) was unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause because Scouting has a nonsectarian “duty to God” requirement. DoD appealed the district court’s injunction against military support under that statute for the 2010 Jamboree.
In today’s ruling, the federal Court of Appeals in Chicago reversed the district court’s decision, concluding that the taxpayers named as the plaintiffs in the lawsuit did not have standing to sue DoD in the first place.
“We are pleased that today’s ruling preserves the training opportunity for the military that Congress wanted it to have,” said Robert H. Bork, Jr., spokesperson for the Scouts.
“Today’s decision allows everyone to get back to planning the centennial Jamboree celebrating Boy Scouts’ 100th birthday,” said George A. Davidson, the attorney for Boy Scouts of America who argued before the Seventh Circuit last year.
The case is Winkler v. Gates, No. 05-3451 (7th Cir. Apr. 4, 2007).
The understandable desire to eliminate the root causes of gang violence will remain, however, no matter how unpromising the record of government-led social uplift. The police cannot do it alone. If there is to be a bureaucratic effort to bring about social change, at least aim it at the right goal: changing the values that give rise to gang violence. An all-out campaign to restore the norm of marriage to inner-city communities, if successful, would be the most powerful antidote to gang culture. (A healthy realism must acknowledge, however, that such a goal may prove as elusive to policymakers as ending underclass poverty.)
The city should encourage philanthropic institutions that make the cultivation of positive values their core mission. A brigade of Boy Scout troops throughout Boyle Heights and Watts would do more to teach boys the importance of persistence, hard work and respect for authority than 1,000 social service and gang-intervention workers ever could. By giving youth a positive moral code, the Scouts and similar civic groups can reclaim lives and replace gang culture with true achievement.
Recently, my wife Bonnie and I were privileged to be invited to attend an Eagle Court of Honor for a young man in our neighborhood. While waiting for the ceremony to begin, we read information on scouting and the impact it has on our nation. Here are some statistics:
For every 100 boys who join scouting, two will become Eagle Scouts, 12 will have their first contact with a church, five will earn their church award, one will enter the clergy, 18 will develop hobbies used during their adult lives, eight will enter a vocation that was learned through the merit badge program, 17 will be future scout volunteers, one will use his scouting skills to save a life and one will use his skills to save his own life.
Boy Scouts of America has asked the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to rehear its appeal in Barnes-Wallace v. Boy Scouts of America.
On December 18, 2006, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit concluded by a 2-1 vote that Plaintiffs represented by the ACLU have direct standing to sue the Scouts. The panel also asked the California Supreme Court to decide three questions about the "No Preference" and "No Aid" Clauses in the California Constitution.
George A. Davidson, the Boy Scouts’ attorney, said after the Ninth Circuit’s ruling: "It is disappointing that after all these years, proceedings in the case are to be further extended, especially since, as the dissenting opinion of Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld so forcefully points out, none of the plaintiffs has suffered any injury or has any standing to sue."
On December 26, 2006, however, the Ninth Circuit entered another order asking the California Supreme Court to delay because a Ninth Circuit Judge "filed a notice that may lead to en banc review of our certification order." If the Ninth Circuit decides to rehear the case "en banc," an 11-judge panel would consider the issues and could overturn the December 18, 2006 decision.
On January 3, 2007, Boy Scouts filed a petition for rehearing and petition for rehearing en banc with the Ninth Circuit. In support of its petition, Boy Scouts argued that the panel majority's decision on standing is in conflict with controlling United States Supreme Court precedent. Boy Scouts also argued that the panel's request of the California Supreme Court ignores the procedural posture of the case and fails to include the facts necessary for an informed resolution of the questions posed to the California court.
For more information on Barnes-Wallace v. Boy Scouts of America, please visit our page on the February 14, 2006 oral argument.
An estimated 57,000 people filed through the Ford Museum in Grand Rapids to pay their final respects to President Gerald R. Ford. They began Tuesday afternoon, continued through the night, and ended today.
Some waited up to eight hours to see the president to say goodbye. It was a view that lasted only seconds - but will stay with many for life. "All of a sudden (Ford's casket) is there," said Chelsea resident Eric Weber. "You know who is there and who is lying in it and the role he played in history."
Local Boy Scouts and Brownies brought the flag to half staff as the school watched. Scout Leader Wynn Storton says the scouts and students appreciate the significance of the moment.
"Today, even though how small it was to some people, for them I feel it will be in their heart forever."
Mark cedar is excited his daughter, Lauren, shared in the experience. And he believes President Ford, a boy scout, himself, would have appreciated the scout-involvement in the ceremony.
"He believed very much in family and values and honor to your country, and we just respect him today as the flag was raised and lowered to half staff."
During the schoolwide tribute, the Boy and Girl Scouts presented and raised the flag to half-staff. Student council members also read passages about Ford's life, including his presidency and nearly 30 years in the desert.
Ford became an Eagle Scout in 1927, and he upheld its principles in office, said Michael Sulgrove, Scout executive for the Gerald R. Ford Regional Council of the Boy Scouts of America in Grand Rapids.
"In all the eulogies, they keep talking about how the country was in a state of chaos and turmoil and how providential it was that Jerry Ford was such a man of character. Where do you think he learned that character? ... I think of the 12 parts of the Scout law," Sulgrove said.
President Ford earned the highest honor in scouting to become an Eagle Scout.
Tuesday, Gerald Ford's Boy Scout troop took time to pay tribute to him. A huge banner was hung from Trinity United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids. That is where the future president attended scout meetings as a teen. That fact is a point of pride for members of Troop 215.
Members of Ford's Boy Scout troop served as honor guards during the president's memorial services.
Scouts (at bottom) salute President Ford's casket as it leaves National Cathedral
From the New York Times today:
When the cathedral’s limestone arches echoed, it was with the drums and brass of Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” and the ushers directing the capacity crowd of 3,700 to their seats were uniformed Boy Scouts, a tribute to Mr. Ford’s youthful achievement of the rank of Eagle Scout.
Boy Scouts have met and saluted former President Ford every step of the way on his journey home. In this video from MSNBC, they honor their fellow Eagle Scout at the World War II Memorial.
Boy Scouts and leaders across West Michigan to remember Eagle Scout and the United States' 38th President with an Honor Guard of Local Scouts
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Dec. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 30,000 Scouts and volunteers with the Gerald R. Ford Council of the Boy Scouts of America join the nation in mourning the loss of the nation's first Eagle Scout Vice President and President with the news that President Gerald R. Ford has died at age 93. For three generations he inspired scouts with his leadership and legacy not only in southwest Michigan but across the nation.
To honor the former President, the Gerald R. Ford Council will be presenting a cordon of Eagle Scouts and an Eagle Scout Honor Guard as the family returns "home" to downtown Grand Rapids, Mich. In addition, over 5,000 Scouts and leaders of all ages will be lining the processional route on Fulton Street in front of Davenport University the day of the service.
Board member and former National Board Member of Boy Scouts of America, Dick DeVos said, on hearing of the death of the President, "President Ford lived by the Boy Scout Oath that calls on a Scout to do his best to do his duty to God and country. He was among this nation's most upstanding citizens, leading our democracy through one of its most trying times while helping to heal America. As a former Boy Scout and friend of President Ford's, I saw him live the values of Scouting, always doing his best, always keeping his moral compass pointed north. It made him a strong leader, a positive role model for young people all across this country, and while we celebrate his life we are saddened to have lost his company here on earth."
Boy Scouts of America today issued the following statement about the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Barnes-Wallace v. Boy Scouts of America:
Irving, TX / December 18, 2006 —Boy Scouts of America and San Diego-Imperial Council, Boy Scouts of America note that the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Barnes-Wallace v. Boy Scouts of America has decided to certify questions of California law to the California Supreme Court. Today’s decision from the Ninth Circuit declines to rule on the merits of the case but instead asks the California Supreme Court to answer questions about California constitutional law that the ACLU raised. “It is disappointing that after all these years, proceedings in the case are to be further extended, especially since, as the dissenting opinion of Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld so forcefully points out, none of the plaintiffs has suffered any injury or has any standing to sue,” said Boy Scouts attorney George A. Davidson.
Boy Scouts of America issued the following statement today:
Irving, TX -- Boy Scouts of America announced today that a federal judge in Los Angeles has dismissed the lawsuit filed by the parents of an autistic boy who alleged that their son’s Boy Scout Troop violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by asking the boy’s father to attend summer camp with his son.
The Troop had worked very hard to accommodate the boy who, as his mother acknowledged in the complaint, is prone to conduct posing a safety issue to himself and others. Since his father’s presence sufficiently calmed the boy to permit him to participate in the program, the Troop asked that the boy’s father attend summer camp with him.
Boy Scouts relies on the work of volunteers, most often parents of the boys in Scouting. Over one million adult volunteers across the country contribute countless hours of their lives to help over three million youth in Scouting programs, including about 100,000 disabled youth in special Troops of their own or other Troops.
Last Monday, the court heard the Boy Scouts’ motion to dismiss the case. Boy Scouts argued that it is a private membership organization and does not fall in the category of “place of public accommodation” regulated by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The judge agreed with that position and dismissed the case in an order issued on Friday, October 27.
The Supreme Court of the United States today denied the Berkeley Sea Scouts' petition to hear an appeal of a California Supreme Court decision. The official Boy Scout statement is below:
Irving, TX / October 16, 2006 — Boy Scouts of America is disappointed that the United States Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of a California Supreme Court decision affecting Sea Scouts in the City of Berkeley.
In 1998, the City of Berkeley sought to punish the Sea Scouts by revoking their free use of berth space unless Boy Scouts of America changed its constitutionally-protected membership policies. In March of this year, the California Supreme Court rejected the Sea Scouts’ First Amendment challenge to the City’s exclusion, concluding that the Sea Scouts, unlike others, may exercise their constitutional rights only by paying the full price of berthing in the marina.
Boy Scouts of America was not a party to the case but filed a friend of the court brief supporting the Sea Scouts. George A. Davidson, attorney for Boy Scouts of America, stated that “The issue of governments seeking to punish organizations for exercising their First Amendment rights is a recurring one. There will be other opportunities for the Supreme Court to affirm First Amendment protections for organizations dealing with government agencies. Boy Scouts will continue to be active in bringing to the attention of the Court opportunities to provide needed guidance to lower courts on this important issue.”
The House of Representatives yesterday passed the Public Expression of Religion Act of 2006 (PERA, HR 2679) by a vote of 244 to 173.
Here is the statement issued today by the Boy Scouts of America:
Boy Scouts of America appreciates Congress’ interest in the litigation facing Boy Scouts and the solution Congress is pursuing in the “Veterans’ Memorials, Boy Scouts, Public Seals, and Other Public Expressions of Religion Protection Act of 2006.” For the past decade, Boy Scouts as well as federal, state, and local governments that support Boy Scouts, have been the targets of ACLU lawsuits challenging Boy Scouts’ relationships with government entities. Those lawsuits seek to use the Establishment Clause to sever government relationships with Scouting merely because Boy Scouts pledge a nonsectarian promise to do their “duty to God.” Boy Scouts of America hopes that the Veterans’ Memorials, Boy Scouts, Public Seals, and Other Public Expressions of Religion Protection Act of 2006 will help eliminate this frivolous litigation against Scouting and government entities.
At a time when some local governments and school boards are taking exception to Boy Scouts, here's a story from today's Philadelphia Inquirer that puts it all into perspective.
Frank "Tick" Coleman, one of the first African Americans in the nation to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, urged youths and their parents over the weekend to persevere, reach high, and stay away from violence.
"If we can get young men, young boys into scouting, it might help them get off the streets with these guns," Coleman said at an open house for Boy Scout Troop and Cub Scout Pack 133 in Overbrook Farms.
"For scouting, advancement is very important," he said, directing his message to the boys' parents. "You can help them" by enrolling them when they are young and by helping them master their skills, he said.
At 95, Coleman "is the oldest African American Eagle Scout in the United States," scoutmaster J.R. Brockman said in introducing him Saturday at the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas on Lancaster Avenue, where the troop is based. "Unless someone comes forward, we're going to say the entire planet."
More letters to the editor at The Oregonian about our win before the Supreme Court:
Thank you, Oregon Supreme Court, for ruling in favor of the Boy Scouts ("Court OKs Boy Scout recruiting at schools," Sept. 9). The American Civil Liberties Union makes me sick! They seem bent on destroying the many traditions that so many of us grew up with and are nurtured by. They should be made to pay the $300,000-plus that Oregon taxpayers had to spend in defending this case. -- Rufus Carter, Lincoln City
Boy Scouts filed a friend of the court briefwith the Supreme Court of the United States this week supporting the reversal of the California Supreme Court's decision in Evans v. Berkeley. As Boy Scouts explained in its brief, “For Boy Scouts, speech is no longer free in Berkeley.”
Following Boy Scouts’ victory in Curran v. Mount Diablo Council before the California Supreme Court in 1998, the City of Berkeley decided to punish a group of Sea Scouts by revoking their free use of berth space in the City marina. City Councilmembers made clear that they wanted to punish the Sea Scouts in an effort to change Boy Scouts of America’s constitutionally-protected membership policies. One Councilmember went so far as to state that the Sea Scouts should make it “explicit that they are willing to recruit homosexuals and atheists” in order to keep the free berthing. The City ultimately wrote to the Sea Scouts that they were being excluded from the berthing program because they “were associated with the national Boy Scouts of America.”
Chris Bishop writes today to the editor of the Salem, OR, Statesman Journal:
I applaud the Oregon Supreme Court for not fully adopting the ACLU's view of the Boy Scouts of America. David Fidanque's (executive director of the Oregon ACLU) comments throughout this litigation reflect the ACLU is only concerned about a select few civil liberties. Perhaps he should re-read the federal and Oregon constitutions again, and reflect upon the freedoms found in their respective Bill of Rights.
More concerning to me, however, is the ACLU's characterization of the Boy Scouts of America as a group "permeated with discrimination." Mr. Fidanque's comments suggest the Boy Scouts is a charity parading as a hate group. This is absurd and offensive to those of us who support legitimate religious and charitable organizations that have taken a moral position based upon Judeo-Christian beliefs. After a decade of persecuting the Boy Scouts in Oregon, one is left to wonder which organization the ACLU will attack next.
Rather than attack the Boy Scouts, we should recognize the great contributions they make to our communities. When was the last time you saw the ACLU build a park for all kids to play in or restore a nature trail in a state park?
PORTLAND - A long, drawn-out fight over the Boy Scouts of America has finally come to an end.
The battle pits the Scouts against an atheist mother with the Oregon Supreme Court settling the score.
The question is whether Scout should be allowed to recruit at Portland schools. Nancy Powell says no -- because they promote a belief in God. She filed a discrimination complaint 10 years ago when her first-grader was required to listen to a Boy Scout recruiting presentation.
Bu a supreme court opinion released this week says the organization did not discriminate since they extended the offer to anyone who wanted to sign up and because they aren't primarily a religious group.
Anybody can vote, so follow link to make your opinion known!
From today's Oregonian, by Steven Carter and Scott Learn:
The Oregon Supreme Court ruled Friday that Portland Public Schools didn't discriminate against atheist students by allowing the Boy Scouts to recruit during school hours in a tangled legal case that dates back 10 years. Even though the Boy Scouts require a belief in God to become a member, the court ruled that no discrimination took place at school because neither the recruiter nor the Scout material distributed during lunchtime to elementary school boys mentioned religion.
The Boy Scouts of America issued the following statement today:
Boy Scouts of America welcomes today’s decision from the Oregon Supreme Court declaring that the Portland Public School District did not discriminate against an atheist student by permitting Boy Scouts to make presentations and distribute informational flyers.
An atheist mother represented by the ACLU complained that allowing Boy Scouts to recruit in public schools on the same basis as other groups discriminated against her atheist son who attends Portland public schools. In today’s decision reversing a lower court decision, the Oregon Supreme Court emphatically concluded that “nothing that occurred in any public school program, service, or activity was discriminatory at all.”
“Giving Boy Scouts equal access is not discrimination,” said Scouting spokesperson Robert H. Bork, Jr., “it is the law.”
“The First Amendment and two federal statues require that Boy Scouts be given the same access to school facilities as other youth or community organizations,” said Boy Scouts’ attorney George A. Davidson. If the lower court’s decision had been upheld, “every school district in Oregon would have been in jeopardy of losing federal funding.”
American Legion attorney, Rees Lloyd, reports today in The Record Gazette from the organization's National Convention in Salt Lake City. Among its many important activities is the Legion's "Defense of American Values Campaign."
That campaign has resulted in legislation pending in House (H.R. 2679) and Senate (S. 3696), known as the Public Expression of Religion Act, in support of which I testified as the representative of the Legion at hearings this summer.
PERA would end the authority of judges to award attorney fees to the ACLU - which has reached millions in such taxpayer-paid, judge ordered fees -- or anyone else, in lawsuits brought under the Establishment of Religion Clause against veterans memorials, the Boy Scouts, or the public display of the Ten Commandments or other symbols of our religious heritage with a religious aspect.
BSALegal.org will keep you posted on the progress of this legislation.
We just came across a bunch of really wonderful Boy Scout promotional videos and PSAs at YouTube.com. They capture the essence and values of Scouting. We've taken the liberty of posting links to them on bsalegal.org in the Multimedia section under Scouting Video. Thanks to SteveJB, Scoutmaster of Troop 68 in Melrose, Minnesota, for posting them on YouTube.com.
"The American Civil Liberties Union is running scared. Its strong-arm tactics to extort cities and other organizations to strip religious symbols from the public square are finally backfiring." writes Margaret A. Bengs in the LA Daily News.
"After a six-year absence, the Boy Scouts of America are back in the high court again. This time it is their brother Sea Scouts who are asking the Supreme Court for a lifeline. The case of Evans v. City of Berkeley is a close one," writes columnist James J. Kilpatrick on Yahoo! News.
Robert F. Leopold III, a Philadelphia Inquirer reader wrote the paper on August 8:
I am a little confused. Mayor Street bemoans youth violence in Philadelphia while his administration attacks the Boy Scouts, an organization that is actively doing something about it.
I benefited as a youth from scouts. I have shared that benefit with the young people that I have led. Duty to a higher power (scouting is nondenominational), family, country, others and oneself is the primary principle that we seek to instill in the young men and women (Venturing and Exploring Programs are coeducational) who choose to seek a life that is quite a bit better than the culture of crime, drugs and violence.
Watch local Philadelphia news coverage of the city's attack on the Cradle of Liberty Council. 6ABC video. Fox 29 video. And listen to Cradle of Liberty spokesman Jeff Jubelier on talk radio.
Radio talk show host Michael Smerconish writes in today's Philadelphia Daily News, "It's not too late. Mayor Street can still follow the scout motto and "Do a Good Turn Daily." He can tell gay groups he's sympathetic, but, for now, he's going to lay off the scouts to give some kids an alternative to drugs, mischief and violence.
Today's Philadephia Inquirer update on the Boy Scout eviction story -- "Diaz seeks 'dialogue' with Boy Scouts; the solicitor says his own homosexuality didn't enter into the city's effort to force the local chapter to denounce antigay bias."
"The City of Philadelphia apparently has decided that political correctness is more important than saving the lives of boys. The administration of Mayor John Street is expected to boot the Boy Scouts from its city-owned headquarters because the organization does not admit homosexuals. This is wrong. Groups like the Boy Scouts should be encouraged because they offer strong, workable programs for boys who need help," write the editors of The News Journalin Wilmington, DE.
"In the midst of Philadelphia's worst crime wave in memory, including 220 murders already this year, a shrinking police force and failing schools, who has Philadelphia Mayor John Street bravely targeted as public enemy number one? The Boy Scouts of America," writes Raj Bhakta in the Evening Bulletin. "This strikes me as the most ridiculous political action taken this year by any politician in America."
"The Boy Scouts of America will fight to stay in the city-owned building they have occupied since 1928, saying the City of Philadelphia has no right to force them to change their policy barring gay members," writes the Philadelphia Inquirer's Tina Moore. "The scouts intend to stand up for their constitutional rights," said Robert Bork Jr., a spokesman for the national organization... ."
Harold Johnson of the Pacific Legal Foundation published an op-ed in the Daily Californian about the PLF's appeal of the Evans decision to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Sacramento, CA. July 11, 2006 -- Pacific Legal Foundation announced today that it has appealed to the United States Supreme Court to review and reverse the California Supreme Court’s decision allowing the City of Berkeley to discriminate against the Berkeley Sea Scouts, because of their affiliation with the Boy Scouts of America.
"Sunday night was a study in contrasts," writes Dr. Terry Paulson. "There was the glitz and glamour of the 78th Academy Awards Ceremony, and there was the heartwarming satisfaction of attending a Boy Scout Eagle Ceremony for a young man we'd watched growing up. As any red-bloodied American, we tried to make room for both. I Tivo'd the Academy Awards and headed off to Westlake Lutheran Church for the Eagle Ceremony for John Francis Murphy IV."
IRVING, TX, March 9, -- Boy Scouts of America is dismayed by the decision of the California Supreme Court in the Berkeley Sea Scouts lawsuit against the City of Berkeley. The Court chose to ignore United States Supreme Court precedent and denied the Sea Scouts its First Amendment rights of free speech and association.
Oral arguments are scheduled for April 6 in the appeal of Winkler v. Rumsfeld, the case challenging the constitutionality of military support for the National Scout Jamboree. The argument will be held in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago. Read more about the case and what's at stake for the Scouts.
"Meeting on Capitol Hill for its annual Washington Conference, the nation's largest veterans organization today launched a national effort to close a legal loophole that gouges taxpayers when lawsuits against religious icons, veterans memorials, and the Boy Scouts are successful," the American Legion announced today.
"That any federal judge considered the BSA a religion is truly unbelievable. But the idea that using the "G" word in a sentence prevents you from consideration at all by any level of government is even more preposterous," writes Doug Payton, as reported at the blog Considerettes. The entry is cross-posted at other blogs with some interesting comments. Stones Cry Out and Red State
An important law effecting Scouting was signed into law by President Bush on December 30, 2005. The Support Our Scouts Act of 2005 protects Boy Scouts' rights to be treated the same as other youth and community organizations. Click here to read a statement from the Scouts about the new law and here to read the law itself.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Thursday, October 18, 2007: 
Area Scouts honor Maj. Rick Gannon, who was killed in Iraq, and others on Memorial Day
There is a great new book out called Legacy of Honor, The Values and Influence of America's Eagle Scouts. The common thread of all Eagle Scouts is "an abiding faith in an ideal called honor," says author Alvin Townley in an interview on NPR. You can listen to that interview here.
Heather McDonald, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, recently published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times challenging the city's anti-gang program. Her solution:
Boy Scouts of America has asked the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to rehear its appeal in Barnes-Wallace v. Boy Scouts of America. 
From WMMT News Channel 3, Grand Rapids, MI:
Students honor President Ford's memory, KESQ News Channel 3, Indian Wells, CA:
Boy Scouts and leaders across West Michigan to remember Eagle Scout and the United States' 38th President with an Honor Guard of Local Scouts 
Boy Scouts of America today issued the following statement about the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Barnes-Wallace v. Boy Scouts of America: 
The House of Representatives yesterday passed the Public Expression of Religion Act of 2006 (PERA, HR 2679) by a vote of 244 to 173.
At a time when some local governments and school boards are taking exception to Boy Scouts, here's a story from today's Philadelphia Inquirer that puts it all into perspective.
Boy Scouts filed a friend of the court brief with the Supreme Court of the United States this week supporting the reversal of the California Supreme Court's decision in Evans v. Berkeley. As Boy Scouts explained in its brief, “For Boy Scouts, speech is no longer free in Berkeley.”
Portland, OR, TV station KOIN is running an online poll: "Should Boy Scouts Recruit at Public Schools?" 
Boy Scouts of America welcomes today’s decision from the Oregon Supreme Court declaring that the Portland Public School District did not discriminate against an atheist student by permitting Boy Scouts to make presentations and distribute informational flyers. 
American Legion attorney, Rees Lloyd, reports today in The Record Gazette from the organization's National Convention in Salt Lake City. Among its many important activities is the Legion's "Defense of American Values Campaign."
We just came across a bunch of really wonderful Boy Scout promotional videos and PSAs at YouTube.com. They capture the essence and values of Scouting. We've taken the liberty of posting links to them on bsalegal.org in the Multimedia section under Scouting Video. Thanks to SteveJB, Scoutmaster of Troop 68 in Melrose, Minnesota, for posting them on YouTube.com.
"The American Civil Liberties Union is running scared. Its strong-arm tactics to extort cities and other organizations to strip religious symbols from the public square are finally backfiring." writes Margaret A. Bengs in the LA Daily News.
"After a six-year absence, the Boy Scouts of America are back in the high court again. This time it is their brother Sea Scouts who are asking the Supreme Court for a lifeline. The case of Evans v. City of Berkeley is a close one," writes columnist James J. Kilpatrick on Yahoo! News.
Radio talk show host Michael Smerconish writes in today's Philadelphia Daily News, "It's not too late. Mayor Street can still follow the scout motto and "Do a Good Turn Daily." He can tell gay groups he's sympathetic, but, for now, he's going to lay off the scouts to give some kids an alternative to drugs, mischief and violence.
Boy Scouts of America and San Diego-Imperial Council, Boy Scouts of America have filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States asking the Court to review the Ninth Circuit’s recent decisions about Scouting leases in San Diego. The case is Boy Scouts of America v. Barnes-Wallace, No. 08-1222. 
Boy Scouts of America and San Diego-Imperial Council, Boy Scouts of America note that the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Barnes-Wallace v. Boy Scouts of America has decided to certify questions of California law to the California Supreme Court. Today’s decision from the Ninth Circuit declines to rule on the merits of the case but instead asks the California Supreme Court to answer questions about California constitutional law that the ACLU raised. “It is disappointing that after all these years, proceedings in the case are to be further extended, especially since, as the dissenting opinion of Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld so forcefully points out, none of the plaintiffs has suffered any injury or has any standing to sue,” said Boy Scouts attorney George A. Davidson. 
Boy Scouts of America submitted a 
Fox 29 in Philadelphia reports
From today's 
WAPO, aka The Washington Post, ran 
The vice mayor of Cambridge, MA, weighs in at length today in the 
While the 
The 
News coverage of the fires in California is at once frightening and inspiring. There are a lot of stories of people helping people, but this being a Boy Scout website we are focused on these tidbits in the news:
The Associated Press reports that a Scout troop from the Cradle of Liberty Council came to the rescue of a hiker who had fallen and hit her head on the Appalachian Trail, building a stretcher from scratch and carrying her 3 miles to help:
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer 
Irving, TX / April 4, 2007 — Boy Scouts of America is pleased that the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit dismissed the ACLU’s lawsuit against the Department of Defense for supporting the National Scout Jamboree. (
Ninth Circuit Order, 12-18-2006
The Oregon Supreme Court ruled Friday that Portland Public Schools didn't discriminate against atheist students by allowing the Boy Scouts to recruit during school hours in a tangled legal case that dates back 10 years. Even though the Boy Scouts require a belief in God to become a member, the court ruled that no discrimination took place at school because neither the recruiter nor the Scout material distributed during lunchtime to elementary school boys mentioned religion.