Benton, West Frankfort, Illinois News | Franklin County News
Newspaper covering Franklin County, Illinois
The Asian rock band “The Slants” that is mentioned in the editorial (Washington Post photo)
In 1929, Chief Justice William Howard Taft persuaded Congress to finance construction of “a building of dignity and importance” for the Supreme Court. He could not have imagined what the court will ponder during oral arguments this Wednesday. The case concerns the name of an Asian American rock band: The Slants. And surely Taft never read a friend-of-the-court brief as amusing as one filed in this case. It is titled “Brief of the Cato Institute and a Basket of Deplorable People and Organizations.” The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is empowered, by the “disparagement clause” of a 1946 law, to protect American sensitivities by denying trademark protection to “immoral, deceptive or scandalous” trademarks. These have included those that a substantial portion of a particular group perceives as disparaging that group — an ethnic, religious, national or other cohort. The office has canceled the trademark registrations of entities named Mormon Whiskey, Abort the Republicans, Democrats Shouldn’t Breed, Marriage Is For Fags, and many more. Please click to read George Will’s weekly editorial in the Washington Post
You must be logged in to post a comment.
December 29, 2024
Columns Archives...
Speak Your Mind
You must be logged in to post a comment.