Supreme Court Declines To Hear Redskins Name Lawsuit

Native American critics and others who find the Washington Redskins name racially offensive lost their chance Monday to have the U.S. Supreme Court elevate the case to the nation's highest judicial stage.

The high court declined to take up the case, essentially letting stand a lower court decision that was favorable to the team.

As The Washington Post reports:

The court without comment refused to get involved in the long-running dispute. The decision essentially lets stand a lower court ruling that the activists waited too long to bring the challenge.

The team has been known as the Redskins since 1933, when the name was changed from the Boston Braves. It became the Washington Redskins in 1937, when the team moved south.

The lawsuit was filed in 1992, when seven activists challenged a Redskins trademark issued in 1967. They won seven years later in a decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, which said the name could be interpreted as offensive to Native Americans. The case is Harjo v. Pro-Football, Inc.

Trademark law prohibits registration of a name that "may disparage . . . persons, living or dead, . . . or bring them into contempt, or disrepute."

The team appealed to federal court.

Judges at the district and circuit levels said the activists' trademark cancellation claim was barred by the doctrine of laches, which serves as a defense against claims that should have been made long ago.

The Supreme Court decision was good news for an organization that has had very little of it in recent seasons. The hapless Redskins, with an owner Daniel Snyder widely despised by fans, are now at the bottom of the NFC East with 3-6 record after beating Denver 27-10.