Amy Coney Barrett authored the 7-2 opinion on the issues for Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
The US Supreme Court on Thursday approved a sweeping law aimed at preserving Native American families and their culture.
In a 7-2 decision, the court struck down a violation of the Indian Child Welfare Act, a law of 1978 that prohibits Native American children from being separated from their extended family, another family in the tribe, or another tribe’s family and adoption. The foster care tries to save. Rates. The passage follows a tumultuous history of separation between the states and the federal government.
“The issues are complicated,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the majority. “
But what is true is that we refuse all the petitioners’ challenges of statute, some on merits and others for lack of standing.” Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.
Joining the other parties in fighting the Supreme Court ruling are Chad and Jennifer Bracken, a white evangelical Christian couple from Texas who are fighting to keep the adoption of Native American children at the expense of Native American tribes.
Backed by Texas and other right-wing institutions, who argue, among other things, the bill violates equal protections by discriminating on the basis of race. But the tribes supported by the Biden administration have shown that tribal membership is a political classification, not a racial one.
The Supreme Court in Haaland v. In Bracken, it did not decide the issue of equal protection because there was no basis for prosecuting it. Rather, the court upheld the authority of Congress to enact the law known as the ICWA, and rejected claims that it unreasonably interfered with state authority.
The case raised widespread concerns about tribal sovereignty and was argued at the same time as Republicans pushed their efforts to repeal affirmative action and voting rights to the Supreme Court. (The court surprisingly rejected the Voting Rights Act challenge, but affirmative action is still pending.) All of these appeals lend themselves to the ignorant “color blindness” to the Constitution the GOP’s law ch’ Hope this helps non-whites. without taking into account the racist history that fueled his path.
