Category: Indian Child Welfare Act

The Supreme Court’s Chaotic Commerce Clause Decision

Commentary On June 15, the Supreme Court issued Haaland v. Brackeen (pdf). Among other issues, the court addressed the scope of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause. Specifically, it upheld the federal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) as within Congress’s power to “regulate Commerce … with the Indian Tribes.” The Commerce Clause part of the decision is…


Supreme Court Upholds Law Aimed at Preventing Non-Indian Families From Adopting Native American Children

The Supreme Court upheld by 7–2 a racially discriminatory adoption law aimed at preventing non-Indian families from adopting Native American children. Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from the new ruling in Haaland v. Brackeen (court file 21-376) which was consolidated with three other related cases. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland is…


Biden Administration Defends Racially Discriminatory Adoption Law at Supreme Court

A federal law aimed at preventing non-Indian families from adopting Native American children is discriminatory and unconstitutional and should be struck down, parents told the Supreme Court on Nov. 9. The Biden administration supported the federal law at the court sitting, while a lawyer representing Texas argued the federal law filled with racial-preference standards is…


The Supreme Court’s Recent—and Sweeping—Indian Law Cases: Part I

Commentary The Supreme Court has been giving much attention to the law regulating American Indian affairs—particularly the law of tribal sovereignty. The court has issued four major decisions on the subject in the last three years. And in the coming term, it will decide a case testing the constitutionality of Congress’s Indian Child Welfare Act….


Indian Child Welfare Act: Another Case of Congress’s Overreach Goes to the Supreme Court

Commentary The federal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is a classic instance of congressional overreach: It imposes sweeping child adoption rules on the states and has caused extreme hardship for Native children and the non-Native families who have opened their hearts and homes to those children. The Supreme Court has agreed to review whether the…


Supreme Court to Hear Appeal of Non-Indian Couple Denied Adoption of Indian Child

The Supreme Court has agreed to review the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), enacted by Congress in 1978 to prevent non-Indian families from adopting Native American children. On Feb. 28, the court granted the petition for review in the case, Haaland v. Brackeen, court file 21-376, which it consolidated with Cherokee Nation…