ACLU: Government can't force Redskins name change The ACLU explained its defense of the name in a blog post headlined “You’re Not Wrong, You’re Just an A**hole.”

The American Civil Liberties Union has come out in support of the Washington Redskins keeping their name — but with a catch.

In a blog post published Friday titled, “You’re Not Wrong, You’re Just an A**hole,” the ACLU defends its decision to file an amicus brief to a district court siding with the Redskins. The football team has been at the center of controversy over its name, which Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said highlights “bigotry and racism.”


“The Washington Redskins is a name that is offensive and perpetrates racism against Native Americans. Should it be changed? Yes. But should the government get to make that call? As we told a federal district court yesterday, the answer is no, because the First Amendment protects against government interference in private speech,” ACLU Staff Attorney Esha Bhandari wrote in the blog post.

Pro-Football Inc., the company of Redskins owner Dan Snyder, filed a complaint in August in response to a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruling in June that found the team’s name to be disparaging and an offensive term, and subsequently stripped the team of its six trademark registrations. In January, the company filed a suit in Virginia challenging the constitutionality of the ruling.

The ACLU in the past has come out against the word “Redskins,” calling it a “vile name” in November 2013. And while the civil-liberties group still does not support the name, the ACLU is worried that a ruling against the Redskins will lead to “inconsistent policing of speech” and will have unintended implications on minorities.

“[W]hy should the government get to play language police? It shouldn’t — especially when experience shows that self-expression by women and sexual minorities is more likely to be deemed immoral or scandalous, and therefore more subject to government restriction under the present trademark law,” Bhandari wrote, arguing that ending the trademark will not prevent the team from using it, but will make it easier to disseminate.

“The Washington team’s choice of name is unfortunate. They should be — and are being — pressured to change it,” Bhandari wrote. “But it isn’t the government’s role to pick and choose which viewpoints are acceptable and which are not.”