Indianz.Com > News > Indian Country celebrates decision in support of Indian Child Welfare Act
Indian Country celebrates decision in support of Indian Child Welfare Act
Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Indianz.Com
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Indian Country is breathing a huge sigh of relief after the highest court in the land delivered a surprising victory in one of the most closely-watched cases in decades.
By a vote of 7-2, the U.S. Supreme Court last Thursday upheld the legality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The historic decision in Haaland v. Brackeen ensures that tribes can continue to protect their most precious resource — their children — through a federal law that recognizes the sovereignty of Indian nations.
“This is really a significant, important, emotional day for us across Indian Country,” Rebecca Benally, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, said just hours after the ruling was issued by the high court on June 15.
Benally happened to be in the Washington, D.C., to wrap up her work on the Treasury Tribal Advisory Committee. Over the last four years, she has been advising the Department of the Treasury on matters of importance to tribes and their citizens.

The organization’s third Brackeen post rehashes the race-based argument with a link to an opinion written by Timothy Sandefur, who as vice president for Legal Affairs at the Goldwater Institute has been a leading voice against ICWA for more than a decade. Published by a conservative news outlet, the piece carries the incendiary title of “Supreme Court Decision Means Crimes Against Native American Children Continue.” But while Brackeen did not completely resolve the race-based arguments of ICWA opponents, tribal advocates are hoping that the words from another member of the Supreme Court carry significant weight going forward. In a 40-page concurrence, Justice Neil Gorsuch strongly supported the views that were expressed in briefs submitted by nearly every tribal government and inter-tribal organization. “Our Constitution reserves for the tribes a place — an enduring place — in the structure of American life,” Gorsuch wrote in a strong endorsement of tribal rights, following a lengthy explanation of the need for ICWA and the history behind forced removals of Indian children from their families and communities through genocidal laws, policies and practices, including the Indian boarding schools that were operated and supported by the U.S. government. “It promises them sovereignty for as long as they wish to keep it,” Gorsuch reminded the public in his concurrence in support of tribes.Protect ICWA Celebration!
— indianz.com (@indianz) June 15, 2023
TODAY in Washington DC at the National Museum of the American Indian. @SmithsonianNMAI
Event Invite: https://t.co/GXHBzPF7PG#StopColonizers #ProtectICWA #DefendICWA #ICWA #Brackeen #DC pic.twitter.com/QsGcFsgDAg
U.S. Supreme Court Decision – Haaland v. Brackeen
Full Document (133 pages)
Syllabus (8 pages)
Opinion [Barrett] (34 pages)
Concurrence [Gorsuch] (38 pages)
Concurrence [Kavanaugh] (2 pages)
Dissent [Alito] (11 pages)
Dissent [Thomas] (40 pages)
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