A Native Hawaiian group is asking the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to postpone the enforcement of a federal judge's ruling directing the organization to return to Bishop Museum 83 priceless burial objects.

Hui Malama I Na Kupuna 'O Hawai'i Nei said U.S. District Judge David Ezra's order directing the group to return the items by Sept. 23 would violate the group's free exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment and place the group members in physical and spiritual danger.

"It is an order to steal from the dead," the group said in papers filed with the appeals court this week.