The US Supreme Court has ruled to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act. In a 7 to 2 vote, it rejected claims that the law was racist and unconstitutional.
“Like most Alaska Native and American Indian tribes from across the country, we have been anxiously awaiting this decision,” said Julie Kitka, president of the Alaska Federation of Natives in a statement. “The wait is over, and the victory is ours. Our ways of life will continue through our children.”
Congress passed ICWA in 1978, to protect the rights of Native American and Alaska Native children, who were being removed from their homes in alarming numbers. ICWA gives tribes oversight of adoptions and requires that Indian children be placed, whenever possible, within their extended family or tribe, or another tribe.
It was challenged by several states and white couples seeking to adopt Native children, who argued that ICWA was a form of discrimination.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the majority opinion, which leaves the law intact. The Justice wrote that although the issues are complicated, the court has rejected all of the challenges against it. She cited more than a century of precedent and the plaintiff’s lack of standing on the issues.
For the hundreds of tribes that fought efforts to overturn ICWA, the decision is a victory. They argued that ICWA keeps families and tribes intact, as well as maintaining culture and tradition – and vital in preserving the tribes, themselves.
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented. Thomas wrote in his dissenting opinion that the majority of the bench, had allowed the Federal government to overstep its powers by displacing state authority to regulate child custody proceedings.
