Court: Scouts’ molester files to be public

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore.

The Oregon Supreme Court’s decision Thursday to approve the release of 20,000 confidential Boy Scouts of America documents will give the public its deepest look at people flagged by the organization as suspected child molesters and show how Scouts kept them out of leadership.

The ruling also could make it easier for other secret Boy Scout files to be used in pending and future lawsuits from former Scouts who claim they were molested by troop leaders.

“All arguments about confidential files and whether they’re required to be produced publicly, all those issues are now off the table,” said Kelly Clark, the Portland attorney involved in the landmark case that led the state Supreme Court to decide that the 20,000 files are public records.

Though confidential Boy Scout files have been used in previous lawsuits, the documents ordered released by the Oregon court constitute the largest number of such records that will be exposed to public scrutiny.

Similar Boy Scout files are being sought in at least 40 cases nationwide against the Texas-based organization. But Thursday’s ruling is not binding in other states.