In 2004, the Havasupai Tribe filed a lawsuit against the Arizona Board of Regents and several Arizona State University professors after discovering that the scientists had used blood samples from members of the tribe for research on type 2 diabetes in unrelated genetic studies. The study participants were not aware the researchers were using their samples in the study of highly taboo topics in Havasupai culture, such as schizophrenia, ethnic migration, and population inbreeding. The Havasupai Tribe alleged that the collection of samples constituted a violation of informed consent, or an individual’s agreement to participate after receiving an accurate and comprehensive explanation of the intended usage of their genetic material. The lawsuit, Havasupai Tribe v. Arizona State University Board of Regents, reached a settlement in April 2010 that included monetary compensation from Arizona State University and the return of the samples to the Havasupai community. Although the case did not set an official legal precedent, it sparked discourse regarding informed consent and ethical research practices when conducting genetic research with Native American communities and other vulnerable populations.

The US Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, on 27 October 1990, and then-President George H. W. Bush signed it into law on 16 November 1990. Overseen primarily by the US National Parks Service, NAGPRA is a federal law that governs the treatment and possession of Indigenous human remains and culturally significant objects discovered on federal or tribal land. Prompted by demands in the 1970s and 1980s for repatriation of Indigenous remains and objects held in museums and research centers, the act grants direct familial descendants and associated tribes the authority to determine the appropriate fate of those items. It also establishes a legal process through which tribes can reclaim those items from museums or other institutions receiving federal funding. As the first US federal law to directly assert Indigenous people’s legal ownership over their cultural items and bodily remains, NAGPRA established a structured system of repatriation and collaboration among tribes, museums, and scientific institutions.