Ancient One / Kennewick Man
Ancient One / Kennewick Man
Today the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld previous decisions in the Ancient One case. Although the federal government determined that the Ancient One is Native American and is subject to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the 9th Circuit disregarded this expert advice. We are disappointed in this decision and are concerned about the ability of NAGPRA to protect Native American burials and remains, as intended by Congress.
The 9th Circuit Court ruled that: 1) the Plaintiff professors do have standing to challenge the federal government's application of NAGPRA to the Ancient One; and 2) upheld the District Court's ruling saying that the record did not support the federal government's determination that the Ancient One is Native American.
The Court substituted its own judgment for that of expert agencies and arbitrarily created evidence requirements that undermine Congress' legislative intent of NAGPRA -- that American Indian people should have the right to protect the graves of our ancestors.
The Court threw out oral history evidence that supports our claim that the Ancient One is Native American. The record contains 22,000 pages that detail the evidence supporting the federal government's administrative decision. The federal government considered anthropological, archaeological, ethnographic, linguistic, oral histories and geographic evidence and made it's expert determination, which the Court has discounted. The Court is unsuited to dispute such determinations and must defer to the agencies and their expert advice.
The CTUIR Board of Trustees is discussing options at this time
and has not yet decided on any further action in the case. The
CTUIR will be meeting with the other Tribes involved in the issue.
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