Pentagon can keep funding Scout event

A federal appellate court ruled that the Pentagon could continue its financial support of the decades-old National Boy Scout Jamboree, which the Defense Department sees as a useful recruiting and training tool.

Two Chicago-area religious leaders had sued the Pentagon, claiming the Boy Scouts of America event should not receive public support because Scouts are required to swear an oath of “duty to God.”

The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiffs didn’t have standing to challenge the 1972 Jamboree statute, which authorized government backing of the annual gathering at an Army base in Virginia.

The appellate court reversed a lower court ruling and ordered the lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that the statute was not the kind of “taxing and spending” legislation suitable for a taxpayer to challenge.