Rule of law-Part 5

In summarizing the case, it involves a New Jersey man, James Dale, who was in the Boy Scouts of America for many years and upon entering college, he openly admitted that he was gay. Mr. Dale had applied for assistant scoutmaster, but when news got out revealing that he was a homosexual, his membership of the Boy Scouts was revoked. And because of this, Dale sued the Monmouth County Boy Scouts for expressly violating New Jersey's common law and bans on discrimination and in 1992, he took them to the New Jersey Supreme Court where he won. “In this manner, freedom of association may come into tension with the goal of nondiscrimination. Freedom of expressive association case law attempts to balance these competing claims—the right of a group to control its message versus the right of individual or potential group members to be treated without prejudice. The Court's precedents hold that compelling state interests, unrelated to the suppression of ideas, may justify some infringement upon freedom of association, provided the state does so by the least restrictive means.” (http://www.answers.com/topic/boy-scouts-v-dale)

It wasn’t until 8 years later that the case was taken to the Supreme Court. “After the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts may not exclude homosexuals from leadership positions, the Scouts were forced to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect their First Amendment rights. CIR filed an amicus brief urging the Court to respect the Scouts' freedom of association. The High Court ruled in favor of the Scouts 5-4, setting an important precedent for the right of groups to choose their own membership.” (http://www.cirusa.org/cases/dale_v_boy_scouts.html)