U.S. District Judge David Ezra made the only fair decision possible yesterday in ordering the return of 83 Hawaiian artifacts that a Hawaiian group reburied in a Kawaihae cave five years ago.

The case targeted that group — Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei, one of the organizations claiming objects that were taken from a burial cave a century ago by David Forbes and his expedition. The objects ended up in the collection of the Bishop Museum, which allowed the ill-considered "loan" to Hui Malama.

By its own admission, the hui used the loan arrangements to gain access to the objects so that they could be reburied — restored to the ancestors entombed in the cave. They argued that this righted the original wrong committed by Forbes' group.

But that logic is flawed. The federal law that allows such claims is set up to ensure fairness to groups that make a claim. Hui Malama can't use the law's protections at the start and then engineer a shortcut through the process, invoking its own standard of justice.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was set up so that remains, burial objects and cultural treasures held by federal agencies and museums be treated with respect.

Sadly, this contentious case makes it clear that there's no agreement among Hawaiians on how that is best accomplished.