The Washington Redskins team name might be considered offensive to some, but the NFL franchise won't be forced to change the name anytime soon.
U.S. Supreme Court today denied without discussion an attempt by Native Americans challenging the name, refusing to hear an appeal.
The decision culminates a years-long court battle that began in 1992, when a group of Native Americans led by Suzan Harjon filed a suit to cancel trademarks associated with the Redskins name.
In 1999, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled in favor of the Native Americans, canceling the trademark. But that ruling was overturned in 2005 by the D.C. Court of Appeals, which ruled that the Native Americans had waited too long by making their case in 1992, a quarter-century after the team's inception.
Meanwhile, public opinion polls in recent years by Sports Illustrated and the Annenberg Policy Institute have found that the vast majority of Native Americans are not offended by the name. In the Annenberg study, 91 percent of 768 Native Americans surveyed in 48 states said they were OK with the name.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a May ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which in turn upheld the 2005 opinion stating that the opponents had waited too long.
