Posted on 03/18/2004 9:19:28 PM PST by calcowgirl
The U.S. Justice Department can't join the Boy Scouts in their legal fight to continue leasing a Fiesta Island aquatics center from the city, a federal judge has ruled.
District Judge Napoleon Jones Jr. has refused to let the Justice Department file a brief in support of the Boy Scouts, which has been involved in a protracted dispute with the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU, representing a lesbian couple and an agnostic couple who have sons wanting to become Scouts, argues that the Scouts should not be permitted to lease public land because the group is a religious organization that discriminates against gays.
The Justice Department had hoped to file a legal brief on behalf of the Scouts' Desert Pacific Council, which represents San Diego and Imperial counties. The Justice Department brief would have argued that the Scouts are not a religious organization but rather "a social recreational organization dedicated to promoting good character." It also would have said the Scouts' lease at Fiesta Island is just as valid as leases the city has with other nonprofit organizations.
In a three-page ruling handed down Monday, Jones said the Justice Department does not have a sufficient stake in the outcome of the case to merit getting involved.
The judge rejected arguments that the federal government "has a strong interest in the constitutional principles involved with this case" and noted that any future decisions in the matter "do not affect the United States' interest in any other cases."
"We are disappointed the government will not have the opportunity to be heard and participate in this matter," Casey Stavropolous, a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, said yesterday. She declined further comment.
A lawyer for the ACLU applauded the judge's decision and accused the Justice Department of "taking the side of a group of people who discriminate."
"We think the United States should be fighting discrimination, not aiding in it," said M. Andrew Woodmansee of the law firm Morrison & Foerster.
In recent weeks, Woodmansee has said the Justice Department action was meant to advance "the right-wing political agenda" of the Bush administration.
The Desert Pacific Council released a statement saying it was "surprised and disappointed" by the ruling.
"The brief included with the Department's request to the Court resoundingly supported Boy Scouts' view of its constitutional rights in that case," the statement said.
The San Diego City Attorney's Office declined to comment yesterday.
The ACLU filed suit in 2000, challenging the Scouts' lease of public land in Fiesta Island and in Balboa Park, where the Scouts operate a campground on 15.6 acres. In July, Jones ruled that the Balboa Park lease violated the constitutional separation of church and state. The Scouts are appealing the ruling, and the city said the group can stay in the park while the case is pending. They have held the lease since 1946.
The judge said there was insufficient evidence to make a ruling on the Fiesta Island lease, leaving it open to dispute in a trial expected later this year or early in 2005.
The Scouts have leased the aquatics center location since November 1987 at no charge. They built the $2 million center on a half-acre and pay for operation and maintenance.
In January the city canceled its Balboa Park lease with the Scouts and settled with the ACLU, paying $950,000 for the organization's legal fees and court costs.
The Scouts later sued in federal court, arguing that the city violated the group's civil rights.
GO BSA!!!
Every year I look forward to the Thunderboats regatta, which is conveniently witnessed from Fiesta Island.
Wonder how many of the drivers and mechanics are avowed homosexuals, lesbians, or (160MPH on water) athiests?
Sure sounds like discrimination to me!
Don't see many chicano names in the entry list either....Hmmmm
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