Boy Scouts ask US Supreme Court to hear appeal
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.
The City of San Diego leases two park properties to San Diego-Imperial Council, Boy Scouts of America, which built a campground on one and a youth aquatic center on the other, each of which is open to the public. Boy Scouts have paid millions of dollars to provide these facilities and services to the public while San Diego taxpayers pay nothing.
At Camp Balboa in Balboa Park, the Council built nine campsites, a swimming pool, and meeting facilities that are used by a wide-variety of groups in the San Diego area. In a 2001 renewal lease, San Diego-Imperial Council agreed to spend over $1.7 million of its funds to further improve Camp Balboa.
At Fiesta Island in Mission Bay Park, the Council spent $2.5 million of its funds to build an aquatics facility at the urging of virtually all youth organizations in the metro San Diego area. The Youth Aquatic Center has a variety of aquatic equipment and watercraft, all of which are available for use by any youth group.
The City has over 100 leases to community organizations on similar terms as the leases to Boy Scouts. The Girl Scouts, for example, lease property for youth camping on park property adjacent to Boy Scouts’ Camp Balboa.
The ACLU filed the Barnes-Wallace lawsuit against Boy Scouts and the City of San Diego in 2000, just two months after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale holding that Boy Scouts have a constitutional right to select their members. The ACLU tried to force the City to discriminate against Boy Scouts because of their constitutionally-protected membership policies.
In 2004, the district court invalidated the leases on the theory that the City violated the Establishment Clause by leasing to the Council without competitive because Boy Scouts have a nonsectarian “duty to God” requirement for membership. The case has been on appeal to the Ninth Circuit since then.
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