The Supreme Court will consider Wednesday whether the Indian Child Welfare Act is the "gold standard" of child welfare policy or a "outrageous and unconstitutional" law that has outlived its time.
What is the best interest of the child? That’s the question at the core of every child welfare case. When it comes to Native adoptions, the fate of the law that set the standard for four decades now rests with Supreme Court.
Native Americans, as you might have guessed, have had a rocky relationship with the Supreme Court. Even the most revered justices, like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, have ruled against the sovereignty of Native nations. Bader Ginsburg wrote in the 8-1 majority opinion in 2005’s Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation, “we hold that the (Oneida) tribe cannot.