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In November 2003 a three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Makah would not receive a rehearing of the court's December 2002 decision barring the hunt. In that decision, a three-judge panel of the court ruled that the Makah must apply for a permit to hunt whales under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
In December the Makah filed an appeal asking the case to be heard by the full court of appeals. That appeal was rejected, but the court said the Makah could file another appeal, so on February 10 it formally requested that the court reconsider the decision blocking the whale hunt.
The answer to that appeal should come in the next month or two.
Sources:
Tribe's whalers await chance to hunt again. Lewis Kamb, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 17, 2004.
Makah whaling: Five years, it's a court case. Peninsula Daily News, May 16, 2004.