The U.S. Supreme Court is considering challenges to a law enacted in 1978 to respond to the alarming rate at which Native American and Alaska Native children were being removed from their homes by public and private agencies. The U.S. Supreme Court now has taken up challenges to the law three times — in 1989, 2013 and 2022. The current case is the most significant because it raises questions of equal protection under the Constitution. At least 10 states have incorporated aspects of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act into their own laws including Wisconsin. Whether these laws will stand depends on what the court decides, particularly if the decision centers on a racial versus a political classification for Native American tribes. The justices heard three hours of arguments Nov. 9 and appear likely to leave most of the law in place. The law includes a severability clause, which means parts of it can be struck down while keeping the rest intact. The high court isn’t expected to rule in the case until next summer. Lower courts have split on the case.
