On August 22, 2011, the Liberty City Board of Directors sent the following letter to Senator Casey urging him to not support City Solicitor Shelley Smith as a nominee for appointment to the federal bench.

The Honorable Senator Robert Casey Jr.
393 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Fax: (202) 228-0604

August 22, 2011

Dear Senator Casey:

This letter represents the strongly held views of the Liberty City Democratic Club, and has been approved by its Board. We have recently become aware of Shelley Smith’s candidacy for appointment to the Federal judiciary. In that regard, we write this letter to express our significant concerns with that possible appointment. The primary reasons for our opposition are that Ms. Smith grossly mishandled and lost the case between the City of Philadelphia and the Boy Scouts, Cradle of Liberty Chapter, then failed to support an appeal, and then proposed a sweetheart deal with the Boy Scouts.

Shelley Smith committed fundamental errors in the handling of this case. Those errors include rejecting early offers of pro bono legal help, taking no discovery whatsoever from the national Boy Scouts of America, stating no objection to Judge Buckwalter’s potential bias based upon his board membership of the Boy Scouts, and designating no expert witnesses for trial. These errors demonstrate that Ms. Smith either represented the City incompetently, or intentionally favored the Boy Scouts over her client, the City of Philadelphia. Either way, such behavior should be considered before a lifetime appointment to the federal bench is made.

Because of Ms. Smith’s obvious mishandling of the case, the jury found against the City of Philadelphia on one of three counts, resulting in a judgment in favor of the Boy Scouts. However, following that jury verdict, the Supreme Court decided Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. In that case, the Court ruled that, as a matter of law, a discriminating organization is not entitled to public benefits. Therefore, the Martinez case supports the City’s position, and creates strong grounds for post-verdict motions and, if those are unsuccessful, an appeal. However, Ms. Smith has refused to allow another private law firm to appeal this case pro bono or to allow Judge Buckwalter to rule on all post-verdict motions.

As a result of her loss in this matter, Ms. Smith is now urging the sale of the city-owned building now used by the Scouts, at a fraction of its true worth, despite widespread opposition in the LGBT community and the community at large. Ms. Smith continues to support this proposed settlement, despite the fact that there was another offer to instead buy the building for $1.5 million (three times the Boy Scouts’ offer), and to then donate it to a non-discriminating 501(c)(3). Ms. Smith’s proposed settlement would allow the discrimination now practiced by the Boy Scouts against Atheists, Agnostics and homosexuals to continue, with a substantial, parting financial subsidy courtesy of the City’s taxpayers.

Many prominent citizens, gay and straight, as well as civic group and boards, have strongly opposed Solicitor Smith's proposed sellout to an organization that openly discriminates against gay youth and adults, atheists and agnostics. A letter articulating this opposition from many prominent community leaders, like Peter Buttenwieser and Sister Mary Scullion, has been made publicly available. See: http://articles.philly.com/2010-12-17/news/25293402_1_cradle-ofliberty-council-boy-scouts-eagle-scout. Likewise, letters have been written from groups like the membership chapter of the ACLU of Greater Philadelphia, and Lambda Legal, opposing Solicitor Smith’s sweetheart deal. See: http://blogs.phillymag.com/gphilly/2010/11/19/aclu-objects-to-boyscout-deal/. Also, you will find that prominent religious leaders oppose Solicitor Smith’s “unreasonable proposal to sell public property, at a fraction of its fair market value, to a private organization that discriminates.” See: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/cityhall/Religious_Leaders_Line_Up_Against_Boy_Scouts_Deal_.html. There is even a recent letter to Mayor Nutter from the Mayor’s own LGBT Advisory Board opposing Solicitor Shelley Smith’s proposed deal, and her refusal to take an appeal. See: http://epgn.com/view/full_story/12146525/article-Mayor-to-meet-with-LGBT-reps-about-Scoutsdeal-.

Notwithstanding letters from these groups and community leaders, Shelley Smith has continued to support her sweetheart deal for the boy scouts. There is additional information we can provide to you about the background of this case should you find this information of use to your decision making process.

Senator Casey, we are aware of your longstanding commitment to and support of LGBT communities and the issues that impact our lives. Based on what we have seen in her mishandling of the Boy Scouts case, we are not convinced that Shelley Smith is objective when it comes to our communities . One of the most important characteristics of a judge is to be objective. We hope you will take our concerns into consideration and ensure that any nominee you choose is objective when it comes to ruling on issues involving LGBT communities. We look forward to meeting with you in the coming months, and offer our continued support as you advocate for policies and appointments that reflect the respect of and equality for LGBT communities.

If you would like to talk with us further about this letter, please feel free to contact Lee Carson, the chairperson of Liberty City at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by phone at (585) 230-5888. We thank you in advance for taking this letter into consideration and we look forward to providing any additional information you may need.

Sincerely,

Liberty City Democrats Board

• Lee Carson, Co-Chair
• Stephanie Haynes, Secretary
• Eric Cheung, Treasurer
• Dwayne Bensing, Member
• Sara Jacobson, Member
• Micah Mahjoubian, Member
• Howard Moseley, Member
• Su Ming Yeh, Member