WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Supreme Court handed a major win to Native Americans Thursday by rejecting a challenge to a federal law aimed at protecting children and buttressing tribal identity.
In a 7-2 vote, the court turned away a series of claims seeking to invalidate parts of the Indian Child Welfare Act enacted in 1978 to keep Native American children within tribes.
Among the provisions challenged was one that gives preference to Native Americans seeking to foster or adopt Native American children.
President Joe Biden said in a statement that the decision “keeps in place a vital protection for tribal sovereignty and Native children.”
The court, in a ruling authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, said the challengers did not have legal standing to contest whether the preference provisions violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment by discriminating on the basis of race.
The ruling will come as a major relief to tribes, who were concerned that the court would weaken or entirely strike down a law that plays an important role in maintaining tribal identity.
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