ACLU wants jamboree moved from Fort A .P. Hill. Federal court case includes brief from Virginia in support of the Scouts.

By CHELYEN DAVIS

Date published: 4/6/2006

RICHMOND--A federal appeals court in Chicago will hear arguments today that could determine whether Boy Scouts continue to use Fort A.P. Hill for their jamborees.

The 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will hear the Department of Defense's appeal of a lower court ruling that the Boy Scouts of America's refusal to admit atheists and their oath requiring a "duty to God," makes the group a religious organization and thus the military cannot allow them use of military facilities.

Virginia has entered the case with a "friend of the court brief," taking the side of the Scouts in the appeal.

The federal district court ruling was made last year after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the Department of Defense over the issue.

If not overturned, the ruling would prevent the Boy Scouts from holding their national jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline County, as they have done every four years since 1981.

That would cost Virginia the $17 million the Boy Scouts spent on their 2005 jamboree, in addition to the more than $800,000 in additional food and lodging Caroline County estimates came from jamboree visitors.

Attorney General Bob McDonnell said yesterday that his predecessor, Judy Jagdmann, filed a "friend of the court" brief on behalf of the Department of Defense late last year, and he hopes the 7th Circuit will strike down the lower court's ruling.

"This has a direct and immediate impact on the commonwealth of Virginia," McDonnell told reporters.

Virginia's amicus brief, which also lists Sen. John Warner and Congressmen Frank Wolf, Bob Goodlatte, Tom Davis, Eric Cantor and Virgil Goode, argues that the economic boost of the jamboree means the Boy Scouts are providing a secular benefit as defined in earlier court cases regarding the establishment clause.

It also says that the jamboree benefits the state by boosting tourism and by providing a "valuable antidote to some of the more pernicious cultural influences with which young people are confronted today."

McDonnell said it is "an absolute, atrocious and incorrect interpretation" of the First Amendment to claim that the Boy Scout oath's reference to God, and the group's refusal to allow atheists to be leaders, turns the entire organization into a religious group.

"The Boy Scouts of America is a civic, character-building organization," McDonnell said, adding that an acknowledgement of God, such as that contained in the Boy Scout oath, does not equal a religious mission by the organization.

"That's an absolutely flawed logic," McDonnell said. "That's never been the classic understanding of the establishment clause."

Instead, McDonnell said, the ACLU has an ax to grind.

"The ACLU has been after the Boy Scouts of America for six or seven years. This is the latest attack by a leftist liberal group," McDonnell said.

The case is being heard in Chicago.

To reach CHELYEN DAVIS: 804/782-9362
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com

Date published: 4/6/2006