Steven Newcomb: Scientists lay claim to Kumeyaay ancestors

On December 3, 2013, oral arguments took place in San Francisco as part of a lawsuit that had reached the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. A decision in the case is expected any time now. The suit was initiated by three professors who have sued in an effort to prevent the University of California system from handing over to the Kumeyaay Nation ancestral remains dating back more than 9,000 years. The UC system had agreed to hand over the remains the Kumeyaay prior to the lawsuit.

The Kumeyaaay Cultural Repatriation Committee (KCRC) was formed by resolutions from the various Bands of the Kumeyaay Nation, and Steven Banegas (Barona) is the KCRC Spokesperson. The UC system has argued that the Kumeyaay Cultural Repatriation Committee is indispensible to the case but cannot be compelled to join the case because of Indian nation sovereign immunity. The situation has the potential to form a Catch-22 for the professors.

Since the Bands of the Kumeyaay Nation have sovereign immunity, the argument is that the KCRC--as an arm of the Kumeyaay Nation Bands—is immune from such a lawsuit, and therefore cannot be compelled to be a party to the case. The UC system has argued that the case cannot proceed without KCRC. A U.S. District Court ruled in favor of the UC system’s argument, and the case is now being reviewed by a three judge panel of Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.