The North Dakota Supreme Court has added the sponsoring committee for the Fighting Sioux nickname ballot measures as a party to the nickname case brought last week by the State Board of Higher Education.
The board on Feb. 13 asked Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem to seek a court judgment declaring a nickname law adopted in April 2011 to be unconstitutional.
That law, requiring UND to keep the name despite NCAA sanctions, was repealed during a November special session but reinstated when supporters filed petitions to refer the repeal to a vote during the June primary election.
The referral drive and a related effort to initiate a constitutional amendment on the nickname were organized by the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe's pro-nickname Committee for Understanding and Respect. The court on Tuesday added the committee as a party to the case.
The court has set March 2 as the deadline for filing of briefs in response to the action brought Feb. 17 by the attorney general's office.
