Supreme Court Lets Scout Ruling Stand

The Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal of a lower court's ruling that the Boy Scouts of America be barred from leasing city-owned land because of the organization's religious ties.

In 2003, U.S. district judge Napoleon Jones Jr. ruled that the San Diego-area Boy Scouts should be barred from leasing public land at Balboa Park, a major park and public area in the city, which also houses the famed San Diego Zoo. According to the Associated Press, the city council approved a lease for 18 acres of camp space, but Jones said the 50-year lease violated federal law that prohibits the government promotion of religion. The organization bars openly gay troop leaders but has said it has no religious leanings, only holding that children should "do duty to God" to become productive citizens.

On behalf of a lesbian couple and an agnostic couple, each with scouting-age sons, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the city of San Diego and the Boy Scouts of America in 2000.