Native American tribes will remain first in line to adopt Native American children following a Supreme Court decision released Thursday, a massive win for tribal sovereignty.
Conservative groups had challenged 1978′s Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), arguing that the federal government overreached when it passed the law.
The ICWA lays out a specific hierarchy for placement of Native American children up for adoption. The child’s extended family is first in line, then members of the child’s tribe, and then another Native American family, even if they are members of a different tribe.
The court ruled 7-2 that the hierarchy should remain in place. It upheld every part of the 1978 law. Justice Amy Coney Barrett penned the majority decision, while Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.
“In sum, Congress’s power to legislate with respect to Indians is well established and broad,” the decision read.
The ICWA was passed in response to a disturbing trend recognized in the 1970s. An estimated 35% of Native American and Alaska Native children were being put up for adoption, with 85% of those children landing with white families or in boarding schools.
“In adopting the Indian Child Welfare Act, Congress exercised that lawful authority to secure the right of Indian parents to raise their families as they please; the right of Indian children to grow in their culture; and the right of Indian communities to resist fading into the twilight of history,” Justice Neil Gorscuh wrote in a concurring opinion.
The case against the ICWA was initially brought in a Texas district court in 2018. The federal court ruled the law was unconstitutional, but that decision was appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court. The appellate court issued a convoluted 325-page decision in 2021, leading to an unsurprising appeal to the Supreme Court.
The high court ruled entirely against those seeking to throw out the ICWA, led by the state of Texas.
“Texas has no equal protection rights of its own … and it cannot assert equal protection claims on behalf of its citizens against the federal government,” the court wrote. “The State’s creative arguments for why it has standing despite these settled rules also fail.”
Prior to Thursday’s decision, the ICWA was most recently challenged in 2013. In that case, the court ruled 5-4 that the law doesn’t apply if a Native American child’s biological father never had custody of the child.