The First Amendment is invoked whenever the government attempts to squelch speech or expression that deserves to be heard. Often, it will also protect speech that most people feel ought not be heard. Yet by invoking the First Amendment to argue that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board crossed the line in canceling the Washington Redskins’s trademarks. Lawrence Siskind unwittingly disproves his own case. (See The Trademark of Cain, by Lawrence Siskind.)
The First Amendment is, at best for Siskind, a red herring. At worst, it could be used to invalidate a recent addition to trademark law.
