ACLU Loses Court Battle to DoD and Boy Scouts

ACLU Loses Court Battle to DoD and Boy Scouts

IRVING, Texas, April 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire

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.

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. section 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.

I’m having difficulty keeping up with the court, ACLU and Americans United.

The court rules, the Boy Scout’s “nonsectarian” “duty to God” requirement is unconstitutional. The ACLU is saying that prayers offered at council meetings must be “nonsectarian” to be constitutional.
Then in more confusion, in the same article, the ACLU said; “It should not invoke the name of a particular religious figure, such as Jesus, Allah or Buddah…”, implying that they can’t pray to Jesus but Mohammed is okay and they can pray to God but to Allah would be prohibited.

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has no problem with prayer at a County Commissioners meetings so long as it isn’t offered to a true Deity, such as Jesus Christ. Pray to rocks, trees and all the false gods you like, just stay away from the One True God. (an inadvertent acknowledgment of Christ and true religion, but an acknowledgment just the same)

Indiana Constitution

North Carolina Constitution

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).

It’s a good win. I just wish it wasn’t because of a technicality of standing.