Pursuant to State Bar bylaws, Indian Law Section will request that the State Bar’s Board of Governors authorize the filing of a non-party, amicus brief by the section.

The case involves a Cherokee Nation father and a non-Indian mother who had a child, Veronica. Veronica’s father was on active military duty at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, when the mother broke off their engagement while pregnant with Veronica.

The father and his family attempted to contact the mother during the pregnancy, but the mother cut off communication a few months before the birth of Veronica.

A few months before Veronica’s birth, her mother began working with an adoption attorney in Oklahoma for adoption by a non-Indian family from South Carolina.