Washington — The Supreme Court on Thursday “declined to disturb” a federal law that governs the process for the placement of Native American children in foster or adoptive homes, rejecting constitutional challenges to the law.
The court ruled 7-2 in the case known as Haaland v. Brackeen, which was brought by a birth mother, foster and adoptive parents, and the state of Texas. The challengers claimed the law exceeds federal authority, infringes state sovereignty and discriminates on the basis of race.
In a majority opinion authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the court turned down the challenges, a victory for the Biden administration and several Native American tribes that defended the law.
“The issues are complicated,” Barrett wrote, adding that “the bottom line is that we reject all of petitioners’ challenges to the statute, some on the merits and others for lack of standing.”
The law, Barrett wrote, “requires a state court to place an Indian child with an Indian caretaker, if one is available … even if the child is already living with a non-Indian family and the state court thinks it in the child’s best interest to stay there.”
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.
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