When the radiocarbon dates revealed that the Spirit Cave individual was far older than previously thought, the Tribe submitted a formal request for repatriation under NAGPRA.

The request was denied.

The Bureau of Land Management, which administered the Spirit Cave site as federal land, determined that cultural affiliation between the ancient individual and the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe had not been established to the legal standard required by NAGPRA.

The basis for this determination was primarily scientific: researchers argued that a burial more than 10,000 years old was simply too old for its connection to any specific modern tribe to be established with confidence.

The Tribe sued the federal government.