Supreme Court upholds adoption law that aims to keep Native American children with tribal families

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court Thursday handed down a ruling that preserves the decades-old Indian Child Welfare Act, a law that prioritizes placing Native American children with tribal families in foster care and adoption proceedings. 

The 1978 legislation was challenged in a lawsuit filed by three white families — a birth mother, foster and adoptive parents — and the state of Texas that argues the act is unconstitutional under the equal protection clause because it discriminates on the basis of race. They also contend that the measure exceeds federal authority and infringes state sovereignty.

"The Act requires placement of an Indian child according to the Act’s hierarchical preferences," the court decision reads. "Under those preferences, Indian families or institutions from any tribe (not just the tribe to which the child has a tie) outrank unrelated non-Indians or non-Indian institutions." 

Congress passed the law in response to concerns that an "alarmingly high" number of Native American families were being broken up by "the removal, often unwarranted, of their children from them by nontribal public and private agencies."

Tribal leaders have long supported the law saying it helps preserve their families, traditions and cultures. 

"Today’s decision is a major victory for Native tribes, children, and the future of our culture and heritage. It is also a broad affirmation of the rule of law, and of the basic constitutional principles surrounding relationships between Congress and tribal nations," Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a statement.

"By ruling on the side of children’s health and safety, the U.S. Constitution, and centuries of precedent, the justices have landed on the right side of history," the statement continued. 

Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the opinion for the court’s seven-justice majority that rejected those challenges and kept the law intact, saying that "the issues are complicated" but "the bottom line is that we reject all of petitioners’ challenges to the statute." 

Included in the opinion was part of the testimony the Court heard from the Tribal Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians who said bluntly that "culturally, the chances of  Indian survival are significantly reduced if our children, the only real means for the transmission of the tribal heritage, are to be raised in non-Indian homes and denied exposure to the ways of their People."

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito issued dissenting opinions, with Thomas saying arguing that the law "ignored the normal limits of the Federal Government’s power" and infringed on states’ rights. 

Alito agreed, adding in his opinion that "decisions about child custody, foster care, and adoption are core state functions" and said the decision "disserves the rights and interests of these children."

President Joe Biden, whose administration has defended the law, released a statement following the ruling highlighting the "painful history" that brought about the legislation and noted that he supported the law 45 years ago when he was serving as Delaware's Democratic senator.

"In the not-so-distant past, Native children were stolen from the arms of the people who loved them. They were sent to boarding schools or to be raised by non-Indian families—all with the aim of erasing who they are as Native people and tribal citizens," the statement read. 

"These were acts of unspeakable cruelty that affected generations of Native children and threatened the very survival of Tribal Nations. The Indian Child Welfare Act was our Nation’s promise: never again." 

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland also commented on the decision saying the Justice Department was pleased that the challenge was rejected. 

"The Justice Department vigorously defended the statute before the Supreme Court and will continue to support the Indian Child Welfare Act and do everything in our power to protect Tribal communities and affirm Tribal sovereignty," Garland said. 

The court will issue more opinions tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. as the nation still waits for decisions on student loans and affirmative action among others.

READ THE FULL COURT OPINION HERE