Washington – The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to block a federal law regulating the placement of Native American children into foster care or adoption, rejecting constitutional challenges to the law.
The court ruled 7-2 in the case known as Haaland v. Bracken, which was brought by a birth mother, foster and adoptive parents, and the state of Texas. The challengers claimed that the law exceeded federal authority, violated state sovereignty and discriminated on the basis of race.
in majority opinion Written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the challenges were dismissed by the court, a victory for the Biden administration and the many Native American tribes who have championed the law.
“The issues are complex,” Barrett writes, adding that “the bottom line is that we reject all appeals from platform petitioners, some on merit and others for lack of capacity.”
Barrett writes that the law “requires a state court to place an Indian child with an Indian sponsor, if one is available … even if the child is already living with a non-Indian family and the state court believes it is in the child’s ‘best interest to remain there’.”
Judges Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.
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