Appeals Court keeps Winnebago NAGPRA case proceeding
The tribe can continue its effort to bring Samuel Gilbert and Edward Hensley home for burial under tribal and religious traditions
A federal appeals court Tuesday sided with the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, refusing to revisit rulings allowing the tribe to seek the remains of two boys who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, according to reporting from ICT. The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago left intact the court’s May 14 holding that the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act applies to Samuel Gilbert and Edward Hensley, buried in the Army-run cemetery at Carlisle Barracks.
Judge Pamela Ann Harris said the law entitles the tribe to bring the remains home and bury them according to tribal and religious traditions. The case returns to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, where the tribe will continue pressing for return.
Co-counsel for the tribe, Attorney Greg Werkheiser, said the Army must follow NAGPRA's congressionally established rights and processes.
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