The Supreme Court is deciding whether to overturn four decades of legal precedent on Indigenous rights.
Despite being the “gold standard” of child welfare, ICWA has faced more legal challenges than the Affordable Care Act. The Supreme Court consolidated four other ICWA-related cases for briefing and oral argument intoNative families are the most likely to have children removed from their homes as a first resort, and the least likely to be offered family support interventions to keep their child.
Three states — Louisiana, Texas and Indiana — and seven individuals have challenged ICWA, claiming that it creates an illegal race-based federal child-custody system that states are required to implement for all Native children, even those that don’t reside on reservations. Texas argued in the court that they “suffer a classic pocket book injury” in implementing ICWA. Justice Elena Kagan stated during Texas argument that “this is a matter for Congress, not the courts.
At the center of this case are Chad and Jennifer Brackeen, a wealthy white, Christian couple who returned their first foster child because the child was too “difficult.” They then fostered a Native child, knowing they couldn’t adopt the child because of ICWA. They fostered anyway, as, “I thought a baby for 3 months would be a nice way to get our feet wet again.”
The Brackeens, who are now also attempting to adopt another ICWA-protected child, decided they wanted to adopt the child, and a court battle soon ensued. With the pro-bono help of legal firm Gibson Dunn, the Brackeens had their case placed in the favorable court of former President George W. Bush appointee, Judge Reed O’Connor, who’s infamous for ruling in alignment with right-wing causes.
, by Cherokee Nation citizen Rebecca Nagle, details how Gibson Dunn cherry picked the right family and court to overturn ICWA, a decision that has nothing to do with the welfare of Native children.is the latest front in a systematic assault on Native sovereignty being waged by Gibson Dunn and other right-wing lawyers to the benefit of their corporate clients.
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