Religion plays a role in Native American adoption case before Supreme Court
As the Supreme Court heard the case of Brackeen v. Haaland on November 9, what was at stake for most interested parties was the decades-old Indian Child Welfare Act, considered by many to be the “gold standard” of child welfare policy. Passed by Congress in 1978, the act was meant to stop Native American families from being separated by state child welfare agencies and private adoption services and instead seek placement for children within a federally recognized tribe.
But some also see Brackeen v. Haaland as a case about religious liberty, and not only because at its heart is, as the New York Times put it earlier this week, “the Solomonic fight over the fate of a child.”
“This absolutely is about culture/religion,” said Robert Miller, a professor of law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.
