On Friday, a group of several dozen men asked the United States Supreme Court to halt Boy Scouts of America’s $2.46 billion bankruptcy settlement. The group of men came with decades-old claims of sexual harassment against the youth organization. The organization, which is accused of facilitating the sexual harassment of over a hundred then-children, filed for bankruptcy nearly four years ago, a move that would in theory prevent any future lawsuits against their past actions.

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) were founded in 1910 with the mission of cultivating several positive qualities in young boys across the United States. Since its establishment, over 130 million young boys and girls have gone through the organization’s youth programs, making it one of the largest youth organizations in the nation. However, despite all the seemingly positive effects of these programs, they have not come without their fair share of negative outcomes. In 2020, for example, 92,000 former Boy Scouts filed sexual abuse claims against BSA, revealing a long history of hidden darkness within the outwardly enriching organization.

As a result, in February of that year, the organization filed for bankruptcy after many states passed laws that allowed victims to sue for decades-old abuse allegations. Eventually, they reached a settlement that would pay somewhere between $3,500 and $2.7 million to those involved in the lawsuit. While this settlement was approved by over 85% of those who voted on it, there was a small percentage who did not accept its outcome and are seeking to stop the agreement from moving forward. 

Should their settlement pass, BSA will be able to avoid any similar lawsuits now that they have filed for bankruptcy. Right now, this is a big ‘if.’ The Supreme Court is currently debating the case of Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P., a similar case in which Purdue Pharma, the firm behind OxyContin who also filed for bankruptcy recently, is facing lingering charges of misleading customers about the power of the painkiller. The Sackler family, the large majority owners of the pharmaceutical company, is contending that a payment of up to $6 billion should grant them immunity from legal trouble. The result of the Purdue Pharma case is expected to be an indicator of how the court will rule in the Boy Scouts case as they both concern the extent to which a bankrupt company is immune to legal action.

As of right now, the court is quite torn on the Purdue Pharma case, but a final ruling is expected to come through some time between May and June. Meanwhile, the abuse victims in the BSA case will simply have to wait for this ruling before truly knowing how the court sees bankrupt firms and their past injustices.