JACKSON, Miss. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from an African-American attorney who called the Confederate battle emblem on the Mississippi flag “an official endorsement of white supremacy.”

The justices did not comment as they ended a lawsuit by lawyer Carlos Moore that sought to have the flag declared an unconstitutional relic of slavery.

The Mississippi state flag, seen in front of the Governor's Mansion in 2015, was the subject of a lawsuit claiming it is "an official endorsement of white supremacy." Associated Press/Rogelio V. Solis

Mississippi has used the same flag since 1894. It’s the last state banner featuring the Confederate symbol, a red field topped by a blue tilted cross dotted by 13 white stars. Critics say the symbol is racist. Supporters say it represents history.

Moore said Monday that he has received five death threats because of the lawsuit and three death threats because he removed the Mississippi flag from his courtroom after he became a Clarksdale city judge. He said he’s disappointed but not surprised that the justices chose not to consider the case.

“We always knew it was a long shot,” Moore told The Associated Press.

He said he believes the flag hurts the economy in Mississippi, a state with a 38 percent black population.

“We’re hopeful that one day the flag will come down,” Moore said. “It seems that the public sentiment continues to change, and I am confident that it will come down in my lifetime and definitely in my daughter’s.”

Moore’s lawsuit argued, in part, that the flag is an oppressive symbol that his daughter, who’s now 7, should not have to face in her public school.

Republican Gov. Phil Bryant has called Moore’s lawsuit “frivolous.”

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