Long Island school district urges Second Circuit to reconsider NY ban on Native mascots

A Long Island school district says it could face a Justice Department investigation or risk losing federal funding if it complies with a New York mandate to get rid of its Native American mascot.MANHATTAN (CN) — A Long Island school district on Wednesday morning asked a federal appeals panel to preserve its high school’s Native American-inspired “Chiefs” name and logo, warning a state requirement to remove the mascot risks federal backlash from the Trump administration’s civil rights office.Joined by the nonprofit advocacy group Native American Guardians Association, the Massapequa School District sued the New York State Board of Regents over its 2023 mandate that required all public schools to remove indigenous imagery and team names or face funding cuts.Massapequa and NAGA separately brought appeals before the Second Circuit after Long Island judge in the Eastern District of New York dismissed the suit in November 2025 and refused an injunction on the ban.On appeal, the Massapequa School District claimed the lower court erred by not granting it leave to amend its complaint to establish standing for its Title VI preemption claim. But during oral arguments Wednesday, U.S. Circuit Judge Joseph Bianco hastily pointed out the threat of federal enforcement was not likely to actually result in the speculative punishment of the Long Island school district.“Your client has stated pretty clearly over and over again, they’re not going to comply with the state provision unless forced by court order, and the federal government has expressed support for your client,” Bianco, a Donald Trump appointee said. “So there really is no — given your client’s position — there really is no threat of enforcement.”Oliver Roberts, an attorney for Massapequa School District, pointed to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights enforcement that occurred with the Connetquot Central School District, which was found to have violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when it dropped its Thunderbirds nickname for the “T-Birds.”Bianco remained unconvinced that Massapequa faced a credible threat of federal enforcement consequences.“I know if we dismiss your case though and say you lack standing, nothing is going to happen to you, right? You’re going to defy,” Bianco responded. “If there is an eventual enforcement action, you’re going to, at some point, there might be standing, but nothing is going to happen to your client immediately.”U.S. Circuit Judge Gerard Lynch also balked at the school district’s claims that it faces imminent threats of both state and federal enforcement.“Why do we even have to worry about what’s going to happen if you do comply with the state? You said you’re not going to,” Lynch, a Barack Obama appointee said. “Normally, if there’s a law on the books that somebody’s supposed to comply with, we don’t assume that oh they’ll just leave you alone. We assume, don’t we, that there’s a genuine threat that you are going to be punished by the state?”During oral arguments Wednesday, Daniel Magy from the New York State Attorney General’s Office said the lower court correctly held NAGA lacks any standing to bring the case.“They don’t allege that any of their members reside in Massapequa or even Long Island. The sole individual plaintiff here doesn’t live in Long Island. He lives in Coxsackie,” Magy said, referring to the town upstate New York some 130 miles north of New York City. “He does not allege that he has a child who goes to Massapequa, [or] that he, you know, even knows anybody that goes to the school district. It’s solely he doesn’t like Part 123.”NAGA was represented on appeal by Jack Petersen, a Virginia-based attorney from Chap Petersen & Associates.Petersen said NAGA is affiliated with Massapequa through educational support because of the group’s mission to preserve Native American team names and mascots.“I would simply close by saying, you know, team names matter in our culture. They describe people that we admire, whether it’s Yankees, Knicks, Celtics, Patriots, Cowboys, Vikings, and the fact that one group, one group of people, have been excluded from this based on a racial classification,” he told the three-judge panel. “I think that’s pretty extraordinary, and that’s again that’s what caused us to get involved in this situation.”Bianco and Lynch were joined on the Second Circuit panel by U.S. Circuit Judge John Walker, a George H.W. Bush appointee.The panel did not immediately rule from the bench at the conclusion of oral arguments on Wednesday.President Donald Trump previously voiced his support for the Massapequa School District in a social media post in April 2025, writing that forcing Massapequa to change its longstanding “Chiefs” name and logo was “ridiculous” and asked U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon to intervene. He later posted a photo showing him holding a Massapequa Chiefs sweatshirt in the Oval Office and declared, “LONG LIVE THE MASSAPEQUA CHIEFS!”Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads