Give the legal team for Washington’s NFL team credit. Its approach to reclaiming its federal trademark to the "Redskins" name was one of the more cynical, disingenuous, backhanded moves imaginable.

And apparently, it worked.

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It’s going to be much harder to stop the team on that front now.

The team knows it, and according to a quote tweeted out by a Washington Post beat writer, the owner knows it, too.

Statement from Owner Dan Snyder on Supreme Court ruling: "I am THRILLED! Hail to the Redskins."
— Master Tesfatsion (@MasterTes)

The team wrote an amicus brief supporting defendant Simon Tam’s assertion that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office could not prevent him from naming his Asian-American band "The Slants." He used that derogatory term on purpose, he insisted, to "reclaim" it from those who use it against them.

The team’s brief, essentially, said that hey, if he can used derogatory terms in his business venture, we should be able to, too.

To repeat: cynical, disingenuous, backhanded and shady.

The next Native American who has any power or authority over what that team is named will be the first. The team has been using that name for more than 80 years, through five owners, from George Preston Marshall (a legend in the annals of unrepentantly-racist sports power-brokers) to, now, Snyder.

So no, an Asian-American man picking a name for his Asian-American musical group isn’t the same thing. Two parties could not have come from more opposite directions than that group and that NFL team did. Tam himself saw this coming in an interview with the website in 2016: His case "got hijacked to become this case about free speech," he said. (The story called the team "an unwelcome ally.")

The justices did point out — accurately, in hindsight — that the trademark office's decisions have been all over the map for years; a decision like this was likely inevitable just from the inconsistency.

Still, it’s appalling that, theoretically, the team can claim that it can keep emblazoning that name and logo on everything, everywhere at any time, and that they and the NFL can keep profiting on it all, and can defend it on First Amendment grounds.

Once again, the people who are actually marginalized, persecuted and offended see the laws and the legal system working against them. This reaction from Ojibwe attorney and activist Tara Houska reinforced that.

sued for 26 yrs to . Today, Supreme Ct ruled disparaging trademarks are ok. Racism: 1 Decency: 0
— tara houska (@zhaabowekwe)

With all that, it’s worth pointing out that the Supreme Court case never argued, asserted or even mentioned whether the names in question were derogatory.

The trademark case the team lost three years ago was all about whether the name was a slur, and whether the government had the power to cancel the trademark on that basis. The trademark office clearly stated, with references and footnotes, that heck yeah, it was clearly offensive.

That trademark decision and the Supreme Court ruling pretty much shoot holes through the contention — by the team and by the NFL — that it’s a term of "" and "." They can keep saying it, but now two decisions by the federal government aren’t buying it.

And, to be clear, it’s also worth pointing out that canceling the trademark never did, and never could, stop the team from using that name; obviously, it hasn’t.

Thus, the team’s victory declaration is, in many ways, telling their opponents, “Yes, it’s a terrible name for you — what’s your point?" Which hasn’t been that far from their previous statements about it, .

Nobody ever said they weren’t smart. They found the loophole they needed. It’s a disgustingly tainted victory, but those count, too.