Judge Assails Federal Engineers For Giving Up Ancient Skeleton

A federal judge on Friday sharply criticized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for its initial decision to turn over to Indian tribes an ancient skeleton found on the banks of the Columbia River.

In a written opinion, U.S. Magistrate John Jelderks said the agency acted prematurely and without considering all relevant information last summer when it halted study of the 9,300-year-old skeleton known as Kennewick Man.

He ordered the corps to consider a request by eight scientists to study the remains, which are among the oldest and most complete ever found in North America.

“I have not determined that the corps’ decisions were ‘wrong,”’ Jelderks wrote. “I am not deciding today who ultimately is entitled to the custody of the remains, or whether the scientists should be permitted to conduct any tests upon those remains. Rather, what I have determined is that the agency’s decision-dmaking procedure was flawed.”

The scientists sued the corps in U.S. District Court in October, arguing their First Amendment rights had been violated.

On June 2, the judge denied the scientists’ motion seeking immediate access to the old bones, but ordered the corps to reconsider its original decision, which it rescinded this spring. Friday’s opinion elaborated on the June 2 ruling.

Paula Barran, an attorney representing the scientists, called the opinion brilliant.

“The court goes as far to finding it was almost a sham,” Barran said of the corps’ decision-making.

The bones were found last summer on land the corps manages along the Columbia River in Kennewick. Initial study was halted when the corps announced its intention to turn the skeleton over to tribes.

David Cummings, attorney for the Nez Perce Tribe, one of the tribes involved in the case, said he didn’t see the ruling as a setback.

“The court’s opinion is significant in denying the scientists’ argument that there’s an absolute right to study,” Cummings said.