UNITED STATES — The U.S. Supreme Court voted 7-2 to leave the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act in place.
The law gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoptions of Native children. It was enacted in response to concerns that Native children were being separated from their families and placed in non-native homes, eroding tradition and culture.
Justice Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. Justice Amy Coney Barrett penned the opinion for the majority.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland shared a statement following the decision saying the decision is a “welcome[d] affirmation across Indian Country.”
“For nearly two centuries, federal policies promoted the forced removal of Indian children from their families and communities through boarding schools, foster care and adoption,” Haaland said. “Those policies were a targeted attack on the existence of Tribes, and they inflicted trauma on children, families and communities that people continue to feel today.”
According to the Associated Press, the plaintiffs in the case included three white families, the state of Texas and a small number of other states who claim the law is unconstitutional under the equal protection clause because it was based on race. The lead plaintiffs are a Texas couple who was denied the adoption of a now five-year-old Navajo girl. The couple previously adopted her half-brother after a prolonged legal fight with the Navajo Nation.
The case originated in Texas in 2018. The Indian Child Welfare Act was brought before the Supreme Court in 1989 and 2013.
