Free Republic

The Boy Scouts lease of a Fiesta Island aquatics center on city-owned land is just as unconstitutional as its lease of public land in Balboa Park, a federal judge ruled yesterday. U.S. District Judge Napoleon Jones Jr. said the lease of the half-acre aquatics center violates the constitutional separation of church and state because the Boy Scouts is a religious organization. The same judge ruled in August that the Boy Scouts lease of Camp Balboa, where it has its regional headquarters, was unconstitutional because the Scouts require members to profess a belief in God. The American Civil Liberties Union sued...

Government can't join Scouts in their lawsuit Federal judge bars filing in Fiesta Island dispute 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...

Justice Department Intervenes on Behalf of Scouts Over Lease in San Diego Park Mar 4, 2004 By Seth Hettena / Associated Press Writer SAN DIEGO (AP) - The government intervened Thursday on behalf of the Boy Scouts of America in a federal lawsuit over whether the Scouts should be evicted from a San Diego park because they discriminate against atheists and gays. The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division submitted a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the Scouts in a 4-year-old court fight over the Scouts' lease on Fiesta Island, a public park where the organization runs a youth aquatic center. "Quite...

The Boy Scouts yesterday accused San Diego city officials of harassing volunteers and Scouts using the Fiesta Island aquatic center the group leases from the city. Boy Scouts volunteers have been singled out for "thousands of dollars of parking tickets" and videotaped by city rangers, and Scouts have been prevented from using adjacent parkland to eat lunch or work on projects, said Merrilee Boyack, a spokeswoman for the Boy Scouts Desert Pacific Council. The Scouts, in an amendment to a lawsuit against the city, have asked a federal judge to order the city to stop such behavior. "We just want...