The U.S. Supreme Court decision that affirmed the Boy Scouts of America’s right to exclude homosexuals has been used against the organization in an unlikely way.
In a negligence case initiated against the organization by a former scout who was sexually abused by his scoutmaster, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Shafer has ruled that the Boy Scouts of America’s arguments in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, 530 US 640, contradict its current claim that the national organization exercises no control over the hiring of scoutmasters.
