Judge Sets Deadline for Twins’ Scout Awards

An Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Monday that leaders of the Boy Scouts of America must decide by March 15 whether they will confer scouting’s highest rank on a set of Anaheim twins who have refused to recite the religious portion of the Scout’s oath.

Judge Richard O. Frazee Sr. ordered the Scouts’ attorneys to make sure that the Eagle Scout applications submitted by 16-year-olds Michael and William Randall are acted upon by the March deadline.

“I was concerned about the delay” in reviewing the Randalls’ applications, Frazee said, appearing somewhat irritated. “It’s a shame that the process has been so slow.”

The Randalls submitted their applications in November, and their attorney father, James G. Randall, told the judge Monday that two other boys from his sons’ troop have already received their Eagle Scout badges, even though their applications were submitted later.

Frazee’s ruling was but the latest in a six-year legal battle between the twins and the Scouts’ Orange County Council.

The dispute erupted in 1991 when the twins, then 9, successfully contended in Frazee’s court that the boys’ 1st Amendment rights were violated when they were ousted from the Scouts for refusing to swear an oath to God.

Frazee ordered that they be reinstated, and that order was upheld by a decision of the state appeals court in Santa Ana--a decision that was later appealed to the California Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments in the case this year and are expected to issue an opinion by April 6.

The Supreme Court has already denied on two occasions requests from the Orange County Council to stay an order from Frazee that the boys be allowed to advance through Scouting’s ranks without being forced to “promise to do their duty to God.”

With the April 6 date in mind, the twins and the Scouts are engaged in a chess match of sorts in the courts.

The Scouts are arguing that the brothers should wait until the Supreme Court renders its opinion, according to George Davidson, the Scouts’ New York attorney.

But the twins’ father, James Randall, is equally insistent that the Scouting Council should deal with his sons’ applications before the Supreme Court delivers its ruling.

During Monday’s hearing, Frazee asked Davidson what would happen if the Randalls were granted Eagle Scout badges and the Supreme Court held that the boys could be ousted from the group.

“What happens if an [Eagle Scout] commits a murder? Do you take the badge away?”

“The Eagle Scout award is not taken away,” Davidson replied.

But Davidson noted that Eagle Scout badges must be approved unanimously by a committee of five. These review boards are made up of three parents of troop members and two people appointed by the Scouts’ Orange County Council.

Randall said he was concerned that Boy Scout leaders would “stack” the committee with at least one member who would vote to deny his sons’ applications.

“My boys have exceeded the minimum requirements to be Eagle Scouts,” Randall said. “They deserve those badges.”

As he left the courtroom Monday, Randall said he believed the committee would vote to deny his boys Eagle Scouts badges.

“All this over one word,” he said.

Davan Maharaj can be reached at (714) 966-7700 or by e-mail at davan.maharaj@latimes.com