The Supreme Court Says No to Reopening the Boy Scouts Abuse Case

The highest court in the U. S. has made a big decision. They refused to hear a case about the Boy Scouts' huge settlement for sex abuse claims. This means the deal, worth $2. 46 billion, is final. Some survivors wanted to sue other groups involved in the abuse, but the court said no. The settlement was approved in 2022. It protected churches and other organizations that ran scouting programs from lawsuits. They paid into the settlement instead. The Supreme Court had ruled earlier that bankruptcy courts can't just erase lawsuits against groups that didn't file for bankruptcy. But this didn't affect the Boy Scouts' case because it was already settled.A group of 144 survivors tried to challenge this. They lost in lower courts. The appeals court said changing the deal now would be unfair. It would hurt both the survivors and the Boy Scouts, now called Scouting America. Scouting America and others supported the deal. They said undoing it would cause big problems. They would have to take back money already given to survivors. The Boy Scouts filed for bankruptcy in 2020. This was after new laws let people sue over old abuse claims. The Supreme Court had a chance to stop the settlement in 2024. They chose not to. This let the deal go forward while the appeals were happening. Now, the decision is final. The settlement stands as it is.