If it was an actual football game, it would have looked a lot like Super Bowl XXIV where the San Francisco 49ers beat down the Denver Broncos 55-10. The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that a 71-year-old law keeping people from trademarking disparaging terms is an infringement on free speech. That means the Washington Redskins now have no legal reason to ever change their nickname.
The Redskins lost their trademark in 2014 after the office ruled their nickname was offensive to Native Americans. Washington has sued to get that decision overturned, but that case was put on hold until today’s verdict in an entirely different case before the Supreme Court was resolved.
BREAKING: #SCOTUS says law that barred the Washington Redskins from registering their name as a trademark is unconstitutional. pic.twitter.com/Gpe8Wgnj5u
— Jimmy Hoover (@JimmyHooverDC) June 19, 2017
Needless to say, the Redskins are pretty pumped.
“The Supreme Court vindicated the Team’s position that the First Amendment blocks the government from denying or cancelling a trademark registration based on the government’s opinion,” Washington’s lawyer Lisa Blatt said in a statement.
This particular case had nothing to do with the sport of football at all. A rock group of Asian-Americans called “The Slants” had been working for years to trademark their name, taking their case to the highest court in the land. There, all nine Supreme Court justices agreed with them. All of them. Even that one you hate. Ok, you might hate two of them, but still, they all voted together. There’s no way any of us can blame Donald Trump for this.
In his opinion, Justice Samuel Alito said trademarks aren’t government speech, but free speech.
“It offends a bedrock First Amendment principle: Speech may not be banned on the ground that it expresses ideas that offend,” Alito wrote in his official opinion.
Myself, I figured the Redskins were fighting an unwinnable battle against history on this one, but I appear to have been mistaken. This court decision will likely end any legal objections to the nickname.
In a recent Washington Post poll of self-identified Native Americans, nine out of 10 did not give a single sunny shit about the Redskins name and thought it wasn’t important. A similar poll was done by the Annenberg Center in 2004 that showed 78 percent of self-identifying Native Americans didn’t care about it at all.
In honor of today's SCOTUS ruling, the President downloaded The Slants' new album and bought a Washington Redskins jersey
— Sean Spicier (@sean_spicier) June 19, 2017
That’s not to say the controversy is ended. Many name change advocates say the methodology behind the recent poll was flawed. I have no idea if they even have an argument, nor do I care to take the required college credit hours to find out.
For now, it seems, Redskins owner Dan Snyder will have his way, keep the nickname he payed so dearly for and get a big fat copyright saying it belongs to him.
Eric Decker joins the Titans
Eric Decker already lives in Nashville, so there should be no moving expenses involved when he joins the Tennesseee Titans on a one-year deal. Decker lives with his wife, country music singer Jessie James, in the city.
Excited to be joining the @Titans and my new band of brothers! Gotta keep that energy flowing from the @PredsNHL this fall!
— Eric Decker (@EricDecker87) June 19, 2017
In a related roster move, the Titans sent reserve wideout Bra’Lon Cherry packing. Decker should have an immediate impact on the Tennessee wide receiver depth chart. Though he only three games last season after a knee injury, Decker came off a 1,000-yard season in 2015. That year he caught 80 passes for 1,027 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Decker has three 1,000 yard seasons in his career and three double-digit touchdown years. The addition of Decker gives the Titans a pretty solid wide receiver corps. Decker should start outside along with Rishard Matthews who caught 65 passes for 945 yards and nine touchdowns last year. Harry Douglas should still play in the slot with rookie Corey Davis and second-year man Taje Sharpe both contributing. And that’s not even mentioning one of the best pass-catching tight ends in the game, Delanie Walker.
Cherry hits the job market with not a single pro catch on his stat sheet. He was signed as an undrafted free agent this offseason out of North Carolina State. Last season with the Wolfpack, the 5-11, 191-pound senior caught 30 passes for 434 yards and three touchdowns.
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