Boy Scouts V Dale - Extra Credit Assignment

Extra Credit Assignment

        The premise of this case is essentially that James Dale, who was a member of the Boy Scouts of America when he was younger and later was a scoutmaster, was expelled from his position. The Boy Scouts of America justified their actions by saying that they were a private group that would not allow homosexual individuals to be a part of their organization as it violates parts of their mission and/or core values. Specifically, this would violate the concepts of being ‘morally straight’ and ‘clean,’ which are integral aspects of being part of the Boy Scouts of America.

        While reading this case, I struggled greatly trying to understand specifically what was going on, often having to go back and read the same sentence and/or paragraph about 3-4 times before understanding what it was saying. Hence, despite my best efforts, it is possible that my interpretation of the written documentation of the case is not as accurate as preferred.

        Based on my understanding, this case was moved through the state (New Jersey) trial, appellate, and supreme court and finally reached the US Supreme Court. The trial court granted a judgment in favor of the Boy Scouts of America. The primary argument here was that New Jersey’s public accommodation law was not applicable to the Boy Scouts of America as they were not a place of public accommodation, but instead, were a private and exclusive group.

        The New Jersey Appellate court however, claimed that New Jersey’s public accommodation law did apply to the Boy Scouts of America and that by expelling Dale, they had violated the same. This case was then moved to the New Jersey Supreme Court. The New Jersey Supreme Court also agreed that the Boy Scouts of America was a place of public accommodation and would be subject to the public accommodation laws of New Jersey.

        The discussion about whether Boy Scouts of America would be subject to New Jersey public accommodation laws is pivotal to this case. This is primarily because under this law certain protected groups could not be discriminated against in public accommodations. If it was proven that the public accommodation law was applicable to the Boy Scouts of America, the removal of Dale from the organization would be classified as discrimination and would help provide an easier and clearer judgement.

        When I first read the premise of this case, I was almost fully convinced that the Supreme Court of the United States would rule in favor of Dale. However, the Supreme Court of the United States rules in favor of the Boy Scouts of America. Firstly, the Supreme Court was not ruling on whether the policies and beliefs of the Boy Scouts of America were legal or constitutional. Hence, the views of the Boy Scouts of America on this issue were essentially accepted on face value. After this, the fundamental issue that the Supreme Court of the United States was tackling was whether the forced inclusion of Dale in the Boy Scouts of America would hinder the Boys Scouts of America’s expressive rights. At the end, the Supreme Court of the United States concluded that if Dale was included in the Boy Scouts of America, this would harm the beliefs and core values of the Boy Scouts of America. It was extremely interesting to see the way this course progressed and the logical reasoning and structure behind the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that wasn’t particularly obvious while first understanding the premise of the case.