Christian Legal Society Urges High

Court to Take Scout Freedom Case

Representing organizations with over 800 student chapters at public universities and colleges nationwide, the Christian Legal Society has filed a ‘Friend of the Court’ brief urging the United States Supreme Court to decide whether the government may penalize the Boy Scouts of America for exercising its First Amendment right to choose its leaders. The case, Boy Scouts of America v. Wyman, could have important ramifications for the right of religious organizations to choose their leaders free from government interference.

Specifically, the State of Connecticut banned the Boy Scouts from its state employees’ charitable giving campaign simply because the Boy Scouts refused to allow self-identified homosexuals to serve as Scout leaders. The Scouts had participated in the Connecticut campaign for over 30 years. In recent years, over 900 different organizations, including homosexual advocacy groups, took part in the campaign. Connecticut claims it would violate state laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation if it allowed the Boy Scouts to participate in the campaign.

In its landmark decision, Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640 (2000), the United States Supreme Court ruled that Boy Scouts have a First Amendment right to choose its leaders, including the right not to allow homosexuals to serve as leaders. Despite the Supreme Court’s decision, the federal Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (covering New York, Connecticut, and Vermont) ruled that the government could penalize the Boy Scouts for exercising its First Amendment right to select its leaders.

According to the Christian Legal Society’s brief, the Second Circuit’s decision will exacerbate a recurrent problem on public university campuses nationwide. Relying on university policies prohibiting religious and sexual orientation discrimination, many university officials have denied student religious groups access to meeting space and student activity funding because the organizations require their officers to affirm their statements of faith and standards for conduct, including sexual conduct. Essentially, the university officials are denying religious groups the right to be religious.

“The Christian Legal Society hopes that an increasing number of universities recognize that diversity on campus is hindered, not helped, by requiring all student groups to march in lock step with poorly drafted non-discrimination policies,” said Gregory S. Baylor, Director of the Center for Law and Religious Freedom of the Christian Legal Society.

Joining the Christian Legal Society brief were the National Association of Evangelicals and the following national student ministries: Campus Crusade for Christ International, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, Christian Medical and Dental Association, and ReJOYce in Jesus Campus Fellowship. A decision on the Scouts’ request that the Court take the case is expected in March 2004.

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The Christian Legal Society, a 42 year-old nationwide association of Christian attorneys, law students, law professors, and judges, established the Center for Law and Religious Freedom in 1975.  The Center is among the most respected voices in the religious liberty arena. For more information on the Christian Legal Society visit their web site at www.clsnet.org.