US Supreme Court's Alito pauses Boy Scouts $2.46 billion abuse settlement

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Friday temporarily halted the Boy Scouts of America's $2.46 billion settlement of decades of sex abuse claims, which is being appealed by a group of 144 abuse claimants.

Alito's brief order freezing the settlement gives the court more time to decide a Feb. 9 request by these abuse claimants to block the settlement from moving forward. They contend the deal unlawfully stops them from pursuing lawsuits against organizations that are not bankrupt, such as churches that ran scouting programs, local Boy Scouts councils and insurers that provided coverage to the Boy Scouts organization.