TRIBAL WIN

Supreme Court Upholds Law Keeping Native American Adoptions Within Tribes

A white couple had argued the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act discriminated against them on the basis of race in their effort to adopt an Indigenous child they had fostered.

In one of the most consequential cases it faced this year, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a federal law that aims to keep the adoption of Native American children within their tribes. The law at the center of the case—the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act—gives tribes priority in determining the custody of their children, and came in response to decades of policy that separated Native kids from their families. The white couple at the case’s heart argued the law discriminated against them on the basis of race in their effort to adopt an Indigenous child they had fostered. Amy Coney Barrett, writing for the court’s 7-2 majority, shot down those arguments, finding that the tribes in question function as political entities rather than as a racial group. The ruling represents a major win for Native tribes. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.