The California Supreme Court has declined to involve itself in a dispute over whether the state Constitution allows public land to be leased to organizations that discriminate on the basis of religion or sexual orientation.
The justices, at their weekly conference Wednesday in San Francisco, voted unanimously to decline the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ request that it decide a certified question.
The court’s decision to stay out of the suit by agnostic and gay plaintiffs against the Desert Pacific Council of the Boy Scouts of America follows the filing in January of a dissenting opinion by six Ninth Circuit judges, who argued that the question should not be certified because the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue.
The suit concerns the Scouts’ lease, for nominal rent, of Camp Balboa in San Diego’s BalboaPark and the Youth Aquatic Center on Fiesta Island, also in San Diego. Other than when Boy Scouts events are being held, the facilities, on land leased for a nominal amount, are open to the public.
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