Boy Scouts of America v. Dale

Boy Scouts of America et al. v. Dale
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued April 26, 2000 Decided June 28, 2000
Full case name	Boy Scouts of America and Monmouth Council, et al., Petitioners v. James Dale
Citations	530 U.S. 640 (more) 120 S. Ct. 2446, 147 L. Ed. 2d 554, 2000 U.S. LEXIS 4487
Case history
Prior	160 N.J. 562, 734 A.2d 1196, reversed and remanded
Holding
A private organization is allowed, under certain criteria, to exclude a person from membership through their First Amendment right to freedom of association in spite of state antidiscrimination laws. New Jersey Supreme Court reversed.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy David Souter · Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
Majority	Rehnquist, joined by O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas
Dissent	Stevens, joined by Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer
Dissent	Souter, joined by Ginsburg, Breyer
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

Boy Scouts of America et al. v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640 (2000), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court, decided on June 28, 2000, that held that the constitutional right to freedom of association allowed the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to exclude a homosexual person from membership in spite of a state law requiring equal treatment of homosexuals in public accommodations. More generally, the court ruled that a private organization such as the BSA may exclude a person from membership when "the presence of that person affects in a significant way the group's ability to advocate public or private viewpoints".^[1] In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that opposition to homosexuality is part of BSA's "expressive message" and that allowing homosexuals as adult leaders would interfere with that message.^[2]

The ruling reversed a decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court that had determined that New Jersey's public accommodations law required the BSA to readmit assistant Scoutmaster James Dale, who had come out and whom the BSA had expelled from the organization for that reason. Subsequently, the BSA lifted their bans on gay scouts and gay leaders in 2013 and 2015, respectively.