A view of Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona. Photo by Greg Peterson / Wikipedia

The Navajo Nation asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to order the federal government to return remains that were removed from the reservation.

The National Park Service removed the 303 remains from the Canyon De Chelly National Monument, which lies entirely within reservation boundaries, between 1931 and 1990. The tribe argues that it did not consent to the exhumation as required by the Treaty of 1868.

Indianz.Com SoundCloud: Oral arguments in Navajo Nation v. DOI

"They remain locked away in a federal facility in Tucson, in defiance of the nation's wishes, to this day," Paul Spruhan, an assistant attorney general with the Navajo Nation Department of Justice, told the court.

Mary Gabrielle Sprague of the U.S. Department of Justice argued that the NPS has a "right of custody" to the remains. The agency is following the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act but the Navajo Nation has objected because it could result in other tribes with ties to Canyon de Chelly entering the process.

9th Circuit Court of Appeals: Navajo Nation v. USDOI

Sprague, who said a draft inventory of the remains has been completed, evaded questions about whether or not the tribe has a "property right" to the the ancestors. She said that issue "is not ripe for this court's consideration."

The tribe filed suit in 2011, Courthouse News Service reported. A federal judge agreed with the government that the complaint was premature because NPS hasn't completed the NAGPRA process. The Navajo Nation timely appealed.

Get the Story:
Navajo lawsuit over human remains goes before appeals court (AP 6/11)
Navajo Nation Lobbies 9th for Remains' Return (Courthouse News Service 6/11)