Skull and Bones, as a private organization, is not clearly covered by NAGPRA unless it can be demonstrated to receive federal funding or fall within another NAGPRA category.

The federal government’s obligation under NAGPRA relates primarily to the grave at Fort Sill — which is on federal property — rather than to whatever may or may not be at Yale.

If bones were removed from Geronimo’s grave at Fort Sill in 1918, that removal was a violation of the grave — but NAGPRA was not enacted until 1990, and the question of whether its remedial provisions apply to the 1918 removal is legally complex.

The 2009 federal lawsuit attempted to use NAGPRA as the legal mechanism for compelling return, and the court’s dismissal on statute of limitations grounds left the underlying question about NAGPRA applicability unresolved.