06/15/2023
By a 7-2 vote, the court upheld the law's preferences for Native tribes when American Indian children are adopted, ruling that the law does not impermissibly impose a federal mandate on traditionally state-regulated areas of power.
But when it came to the the preferences for placing children in Native foster and adoptive homes — whether the law unconstitutionally discriminates based on race — the court did not decide the issue because it said that the challengers, here prospective adoptive parents and the state of Texas, had not suffered a concrete harm and could not sue.
The case pitted prospective adoptive parents and Texas against the act, a federal law aimed at preventing Native American children from being separated from their extended families and their tribes.