The 2010 National Scout Jamboree is moving "full-speed ahead."
A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that plaintiff taxpayers from Chicago — represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) — had no standing in a case that accuses the military of violating the U.S. Constitution by allowing the Boy Scouts of America to use its facilities.
The ACLU sued the Department of Defense in 1999 over its support of the National Scout Jamboree, because Scouting has a "duty to God" requirement.
"We are very gratified that the 7th Circuit found as it did that the ACLU had no standing to bring this lawsuit in the first place," said Bob Bork, spokesman for the Scouts. "This is very exciting news. It's full-speed ahead."
The Boy Scouts have held the National Scout Jamboree every four years at Fort A.P. Hill near Fredericksburg, Va. Seven presidents have attended the Jamboree, 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 the Boy Scouts of America.
In another case — this one in San Diego — the 9th Circuit has ruled the ACLU and its plaintiffs have standing to sue the Scouts over use of a public park. The Scouts have asked the court to rehear their appeal. That case and the Jamboree case could reach the Supreme Court at the same time.
Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said the 7th Circuit correctly rejected the notion that any taxpayer with a generalized grievance over the federal government's support of Scouting can use the federal courts as a personal veto tool.
"This national obsession by atheists, secularists and homosexual activists with the Boy Scouts over the years has been disgraceful," he said, "in light of the contributions that organization has made to our national life since its inception here in 1910."
