The team names "Indians" and "Braves" may be drawing fire elsewhere as the teams move to the World Series, but "REDSKIN" license plates just got the nod here from the Utah Court of Appeals.
The court ruled that even though the license plate "REDSKIN" and similar plates offended civil rights attorney Brian Barnard, his personal feelings aren't legal grounds for overruling the Utah Motor Vehicle Division's policy, which allows such plates."While it is true that offending a citizen's sensibilities is at best a poor goal for government action, it is also true that it happens often," Judge Michael J. Wilkins wrote in a ruling released Thursday. "Bar-nard's personal offense is simply not enough . . . "
The court ruled against Barnard because he didn't have the legal standing to challenge the state's policy. Barnard offered affadavits from American Indians living in Utah who said they were offended by the plates, but he, himself, is not an American Indian.
He simply failed to convince the court that he had a personal stake in the matter, Wilkins wrote.