Native Americans protest before the Minnesota Vikings and Washington game in Minneapolis. (Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images)

All is not completely lost for the group of Native Americans facing a lawsuit from the Washington football team: The Post reports that Justice Department announced that it would intervene to “defend a key aspect” of the lawsuit.

When a group of Native Americans successfully won a case to get the Washington football team’s trademark for their name and logo canceled by the U.S. Patent Office, the team fired back, filing a lawsuit against them.

But the defendants fought back, filing a motion asking a U.S. District Court judge to dismiss the team’s lawsuit on the grounds that their dispute “is with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, not with the Blackhorse Defendants.” Unfortunately for the defendants, the judge ruled that owner Dan Snyder and the team can, in fact, go ahead with their lawsuit.

Although that doesn’t bode well for the defendants, today’s announcement from the Justice Department may shine a light in support of the group of Native Americans. From the Post:

Dana J. Boente, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, announced that the Justice Department would defend the constitutionality of a key provision of the Lanham Act, which bars trademarks that may disparage or bring people into “contempt or disrepute.”

No doubt that Snyder and his legal team will do whatever they can to refute the Justice Department’s intervention, because what else you would you expect from Dan Snyder?