North Dakota's Supreme Court said it would not intervene in a dispute about whether a judge was justified in sealing documents in the University of North Dakota's lawsuit over its Fighting Sioux athletics nickname.

The court, in a one-page order made public Thursday, declined the Forum Communications Co.'s request for a supervisory writ directing Northeast Central District Judge Lawrence Jahnke to lift his earlier document-sealing order.

UND sued the NCAA after the association said it would impose penalties on the Grand Forks school's continued use of the Fighting Sioux nickname and an American Indian head logo.

Forum Communications' request for a writ was made while the case was pending. Jahnke said he sealed the documents to encourage out-of-court settlement talks. The lawsuit was settled Oct. 26, and Jahnke made the documents public afterward.

The settlement says UND has three years to gain the consent of the Standing Rock Sioux and the Spirit Lake Sioux tribes to continue using the nickname and logo.

Jack McDonald, an attorney for the North Dakota Newspaper Association and the North Dakota Broadcasters Association, called the request "a long shot. They're called extraordinary writs for a reason."

McDonald said the Supreme Court could have provided guidance about the sealing of court documents by taking up the case.

"This case was over with, and we knew that, and the documents were public, but I think the big effort was to maybe set some guidelines in this area for future cases," McDonald said. "I guess we'll just have to wait for a future case."

Forum Communications Co. is based in Fargo. It owns The Forum and the Grand Forks Herald newspapers and other media properties.