ADF rebuts ACLU demand that Colo. school district exclude Boy Scouts
ADF attorneys send letter to Boulder Valley School District explaining that excluding Boy Scouts would be unconstitutional
Thursday, Aug 12, 2010
BOULDER, Colo. — The Alliance Defense Fund sent the Boulder Valley School District Board of Education a letter Thursday debunking false claims made by the American Civil Liberties Union that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling allows the district to deny the Boy Scouts access to its public school campuses. In its letter, the ACLU misrepresented the ruling and urged the district to jettison the Scouts from its campuses, potentially placing the district in danger of civil rights violations. The ACLU objects to a Boy Scouts policy, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000, not to choose leaders who engage in homosexual behavior.
“Groups such as the Boy Scouts shouldn’t be punished because of their beliefs. The First Amendment simply does not allow it,” said ADF Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco. “The ACLU’s disinformation letter badly distorts the recent decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, saying that it supports exclusion of the Scouts from the school district’s campuses. But the decision says no such thing, and the school district would be acting contrary to well-settled First Amendment law if it excluded the Scouts. The ACLU certainly has an agenda, but the school district’s best interests do not appear to be part of it.”
On Aug. 2, the Boulder County Chapter of the ACLU sent the school district a letter erroneously arguing that the recent Christian Legal Society v. Martinez decision allows the district to prohibit the Boy Scouts from using its facilities, even though district policy makes its facilities open to a broad range of outside groups. ADF explains in its letter that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling does not in any way suggest that groups may be denied access to public meeting facilities because of their belief-based membership and leadership policies--an act that would constitute viewpoint-based discrimination, which is forbidden by the First Amendment.
“The First Amendment protects the Boy Scouts’ membership policies regarding sexual conduct. The First Amendment prohibits the District from excluding the Boy Scouts from its speech forum based on their membership policies and pursuant to its nondiscrimination policy,” the ADF letter states. “The ACLU’s ‘advice’ that the District may…exclude the Boy Scouts from its speech forum is a product of their well-documented national campaign to punish the Boy Scouts. It is by no means an accurate statement of the governing law. To act in accordance with the ACLU’s advice would advance that organization’s narrow political and social agenda, while at the same time squelching fundamental and well-established First Amendment freedoms.”
The ACLU first threatened the Boulder Valley School Board over the Boy Scouts in 2001. At that time, the school district’s attorney responded to the ACLU by citing court precedent affirming the constitutionality of allowing such access.
“Groups such as the Boy Scouts shouldn’t be punished because of their beliefs. The First Amendment simply does not allow it,” said ADF Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco. “The ACLU’s disinformation letter badly distorts the recent decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, saying that it supports exclusion of the Scouts from the school district’s campuses. But the decision says no such thing, and the school district would be acting contrary to well-settled First Amendment law if it excluded the Scouts. The ACLU certainly has an agenda, but the school district’s best interests do not appear to be part of it.”
On Aug. 2, the Boulder County Chapter of the ACLU sent the school district a letter erroneously arguing that the recent Christian Legal Society v. Martinez decision allows the district to prohibit the Boy Scouts from using its facilities, even though district policy makes its facilities open to a broad range of outside groups. ADF explains in its letter that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling does not in any way suggest that groups may be denied access to public meeting facilities because of their belief-based membership and leadership policies--an act that would constitute viewpoint-based discrimination, which is forbidden by the First Amendment.
“The First Amendment protects the Boy Scouts’ membership policies regarding sexual conduct. The First Amendment prohibits the District from excluding the Boy Scouts from its speech forum based on their membership policies and pursuant to its nondiscrimination policy,” the ADF letter states. “The ACLU’s ‘advice’ that the District may…exclude the Boy Scouts from its speech forum is a product of their well-documented national campaign to punish the Boy Scouts. It is by no means an accurate statement of the governing law. To act in accordance with the ACLU’s advice would advance that organization’s narrow political and social agenda, while at the same time squelching fundamental and well-established First Amendment freedoms.”
The ACLU first threatened the Boulder Valley School Board over the Boy Scouts in 2001. At that time, the school district’s attorney responded to the ACLU by citing court precedent affirming the constitutionality of allowing such access.
- Pronunciation guide: Tedesco (Tuh-dess-co)
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family. ADF President Alan Sears is co-author with Craig Osten of the book The ACLU vs. America.