Hot shot lawyer joins fight to save Massapequa ‘Chiefs' name out of love for hometown: ‘That's our identity'

Yahoo

2 days ago

A high-powered lawyer joined the fight to keep the Massapequa Chiefs name and dissolve a state ban on Native American imagery in schools — and he worked pro bono out of hometown pride.
Nashville, Tennessee-based Oliver Roberts, who grew up in town before graduating from Harvard Law, stepped up in the 11th hour to join a reinvigorated legal battle against the Empire State's logo ban.
'I think Massapequa is a great place, great people — a place of great values. I just thought it was my way of being able to give back,' Roberts, who played soccer and basketball in the Massapequa school system as a boy, told The Post.
'That's what this is really all about — the state attacking towns like Massapequa, which just are towns that care about their local values,' said Roberts, a 29-year-old constitutional lawyer who successfully took on the IRS twice in court.
Roberts kept up with the Massapequa school district's initial, lengthy lawsuit against the state Board of Regents after it imposed the ban in 2023, complete with threats of the funding penalties if schools didn't comply.
The Chiefs had faced their case getting dismissed in court in March, but the town sent an SOS to President Trump, who deployed Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to intervene on behalf of the close South Shore community.
'LONG LIVE THE MASSAPEQUA CHIEFS!' the POTUS declared in April.
Roberts, who previously sat on the Massapequa district's finance subcommittee, felt a call to action.
He reached out to former school board member Gary Baldinger, a noteworthy Massapequa high alum who also played for the Kansas City Chiefs, with a simple text: 'How can I help out?'
Roberts worked pro bono for weeks to file an amended lawsuit ahead of a June deadline on behalf of the district, which has said rebranding would cost taxpayers $1 million.
Now with a long legal road ahead, Roberts is on the 'Pequa payroll and is playing for the Chiefs again, this time in the courthouse
In May, he and the school also penned a letter to McMahon, asking for further intervention, a referral to the US Department of Justice — and even a federal funding cut for New York State.
McMahon toured the high school on Friday.
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Hot shot lawyer joins fight to save Massapequa 'Chiefs' name out of love for hometown: 'That's our identity'
'You've got the Huguenots, we've got the Highlanders, we've got the Scotsman. Why is that not considered in any way racist?' McMahon asked.
The secretary said she would take the case to the DOJ as a Title VI violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 if New York didn't voluntarily back down.
Roberts agreed with McMahon's stance.
'It's clearly attacking just one group on the basis of race and national origin — any other race or ethnicity is totally unattacked by this regulation,' he said.
The new lawsuit also touches on other federal legalities, such as Congress's authority to regulate interstate commerce between the states and Native American tribes, he explained.
Massapequa has entered into a contract with the Native American Guardians Association, a group that joined McMahon at the school in support, to allow use of the Chiefs likeness following the 2023 ban.
'We're arguing that the arbitrary cut-off deadline [of 2023] is unconstitutional and discriminates against indigenous tribes' right to contract,' Roberts added, saying this should 'invalidate' the Board of Regents initiative.
On top of all that, Roberts, who played as a Chief for Berner Middle School and Unqua Elementary, firmly believes getting rid of the name does a disservice to the Massapequa youth.
'I've never seen anyone disrespect it. It's always like a point of pride…We're the Chiefs. That's our identity, we proudly wore it on our jerseys,' he said.
'We were often the winning team. That added to the fact that we just really respected the name and felt like it was part of our winning culture.'
Now, Roberts is planning to take that victorious reputation inside the courtroom with an update expected around July.
'We're very, very confident we're going to prevail in this matter for Massapequa,' he said.