NFL notes: Redskins defend nickname again

WASHINGTON — The Washington Redskins have won the latest round in a 16-year court battle against a group of American Indians, prevailing on a technicality that again skirts the issue of whether the team's nickname is racially offensive.

In a ruling dated June 25 and first circulated Thursday, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the youngest of the seven Native American plaintiffs waited too long after turning 18 to file the lawsuit that attempts to revoke the Redskins trademarks.

The lead plaintiff, Suzan Shown Harjo, said Friday the group will appeal.

"She ruled as we anticipated she would: for the loophole that would allow everyone to avoid the merits of the case," said Harjo, president of the Washington-based Morning Star Institute that advances Native American causes.

Harjo and her fellow plaintiffs have been working since 1992 to have the Redskins trademarks declared invalid. They initially won — the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office panel canceled the trademarks in 1999 — but Kollar-Kotelly overturned the ruling in 2003 in part because the suit was filed decades after the first Redskins trademark was issued in 1967.

The U.S. Court of Appeals then sent the case back to Kollar-Kotelly, noting that the youngest of the plaintiffs was only 1 year old in 1967 and therefore could not have taken legal action at the time.

But Kollar-Kotelly's new ruling rejects that possible argument. She wrote that the youngest plaintiff turned 18 in 1984 and therefore "waited almost eight years" after coming of age to join the lawsuit.

The judge did not address whether the Redskins name is offensive or racist. She wrote that her decision was not based on the larger issue of "the appropriateness of Native American imagery for team names."

The case now heads back to the U.S. Court of Appeals. Should it agree that Harjo's group was too old to sue, she has a backup plan: A group of six American Indians ranging in age from 18 to 24 filed essentially the same lawsuit two years ago. That suit is on hold until Harjo's case is resolved.

BUTKUS WEIGHS IN ON STEROIDS: NFL Hall of Famer Dick Butkus is upset that steroid use has tainted football and that young athletes are questioning their role models. "I owe everything to football," Butkus said Friday. "I'm embarrassed that for some other kid, it won't be as pure as when I was able to play." The former Chicago Bears linebacker said professional leagues like the NFL should take the responsibility to reach out to high schools and teach students that steroids don't create success. Butkus spoke to more than 200 students at a Soldier Field rally on Friday, along with former Bears coach Mike Ditka, former Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Anthony Munoz and former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim Miller, who was suspended by the NFL in 1999 after he tested positive for drugs.

Comments