Editorial: Boy Scouts bend their own laws

A Scout is trustworthy.

That is the first point of the Scout Law, the 12 principles outlined by Boy Scouts of America as rules to live by. The organization defines the idea. “Tell the truth and keep promises. People can depend on you.”

It will be surprising if at least one lawyer doesn’t bring up this very basic bedrock in federal court, where the national youth organization has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Thousands of men are suing the 110-year-old group — rebranded as Scouts BSA in 2018 — over claims of molestation that spanned decades.

Filing for bankruptcy allows the Scouts national organization — where the money and power is concentrated — to press the pause button on all of those lawsuits, which some estimates say could cost over $1 billion in compensation payouts.

A Scout is kind.

That one is defined as “treat others as you want to be treated.” No one wants to have the pain and trauma of sexual abuse dismissed by a nonprofit to protect assets valued as high as $10 billion.

In an email sent to Scouting families, the national organization expressed outrage that its programs had been used to violate children, and asserted that the goal of bankruptcy was to help victims while still continuing to serve the 2 million or so kids who participate from Cub Scouts as young as 5 to Venturing Crews as old as 21.

That is good. Scouting programs are hugely beneficial to kids who learn valuable skills, develop friendships and find deep wells of strength and ability inside themselves.

Scouts BSA has struggled with falling membership, despite opening its ranks to girls. It seems likely that will continue as local groups and families bear more of the financial brunt. Even before the bankruptcy, the national organization announced in October 2019 that fees were increasing by 80%, to cover not just operating costs but also liability insurance.

The Scouts aren’t the first large and respected group to take the bankruptcy path. They won’t be the last. More than 20 Catholic dioceses have filed for bankruptcy, the most recent being Harrisburg, one of those named heavily in the 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing 70 years of child sexual abuse.

Bankruptcy isn’t against the law. It’s absolutely a legal way to deal with a complicated financial problem.

But like the Catholic Church, the Scouts have long held themselves and their members to a higher standard that bankruptcy seems to skirt. It sits uneasily against many of those Scout Law principles. Is it loyal? Is it helpful? Is it courteous? Is it thrifty?

It seems unfair to the real backbone of Scouting, both the kids and the million volunteers that still believe, heart and soul, in the program.

A Scout is brave.

That one has to sting. “Face difficult situations even when you feel afraid. Do what you think is right despite what others may be doing or saying.”

There is nothing brave here. Scouting is all about teaching duty, and this completely lawful bankruptcy teaches Scouts not to do the right thing but to look for the right loophole.