ACLU TAKES PRO-FOOTBALL'S SIDE, LEGALLY BUT NOT MORALLY

ACLU TAKES PRO-FOOTBALL’S SIDE, LEGALLY BUT NOT MORALLY

The American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia filed a motion for leave to file an Amici Curiae brief in Pro-Football, Inc. v. Amanda Blackhorse, Marcus Briggs-Cloud, Phillip Gover, Jillian Pappan and Courtney Tsotigh on March 5. United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Civ. Action No. 1:14-cv-01043-GBL-IDD.

The ACLU takes the position that a finding of unconstitutionality is required because Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act mandates “viewpoint discrimination”, cautioning that if the Court rules in favor of the defendants, it will empower “any individual to seek and obtain the cancellation of a registration that the PTO finds offensive”.

Despite their teaming up with the Pro-Football, Inc. on the legal issues, the ACLU readily admits that it has “joined calls for the team to change the name and to stop using a word that perpetuates racism against Native Americans”.

The ACLU has its own blog on this subject at https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/youre-not-wrong-youre-just-ahole.

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