SCOTUS Cert Recap: The Indian Child Welfare Act
Highlights
On Feb. 28, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), which raises several questions, including:
Does ICWA unconstitutionally discriminate on the basis of race in requiring state custody proceedings to give preference to placing an “Indian child” with “(1) a member of the child’s extended family; (2) other members of the Indian child’s tribe; or (3) other Indian families” rather than with non-Indian adoptive parents?
Do ICWA’s placement preferences pass the rational-basis test?
Do the plaintiffs have standing to bring an equal protection challenge to ICWA’s placement preferences?
Do ICWA and its implementing regulations unconstitutionally commandeer states or otherwise exceed Congress’s authority under Article I of the Constitution?
Does the authority that ICWA and its implementing regulations confer upon individual Indian tribes violate the nondelegation doctrine?
The U.S. Supreme Court issued an order list on Feb. 28 that added one more case to its docket for its next term: a constitutional challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA), a federal law that regulates custody proceedings involving “Indian children.”
Keep Up to Date in a Changing World
