Attorney General Keith Ellison backs releasing list of Boy Scout leaders accused of misconduct

Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a legal brief Monday supporting the release of a list of Boy Scout leaders accused of misconduct with children.

Jeff Anderson, who represented a man sexually abused by a Boy Scout leader as a child, asked a Ramsey County judge earlier this month to make public a list of the 1,500 scouting leaders from across the country.

He said the judge should make the names public in "the extraordinary interest of child protection" even though the case in question was settled five years ago.

The Boy Scouts of America has refused to release the list publicly, arguing that it settled the case with Anderson's client in 2014 and has provided information from the list to law enforcement. When the two sides reached a settlement, the court dismissed the case in 2014 and it cannot be reopened, the Boy Scouts contend.

Details of the settlement were never made public nor was the identity of the victim, referred to as John Doe 180 in court files.

Anderson said the files contain more than 48,000 pages of documents from 1999 to 2008.

Since these files are recent, most of the perpetrators are likely still alive and may still be working with children, he said.

DAVID CHANEN