Baby Veronica comes to the Court with more advantages than many children. A loving parent and an eager adoptive couple care enough to fight over her. Unlike many children, she will have adults who care for her regardless of the outcome. Veronica is less lucky in that her life has become entangled in the political agendas of the adoption industry and three levels of government: federal, state, and tribal. Then there is the 800-pound gorilla of federal Indian law: race. Justice Antonin Scalia recently referred to the Voting Rights Act as a “racial entitlement,” and the people who despise the Indian Child Welfare Act see ICWA the same way. The conservative wing of the Court is Justices Scalia, Thomas, Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. The liberal wing would be Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor. Justice Anthony Kennedy, a conservative placed on the Court by President Ronald Reagan, is perceived to be the “swing vote.”Get the Story:
Steve Russell: Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl: Reading the SCOTUS Tea Leaves (Indian Country Today 4/19) Oral Argument Transcript:
Adoptive Couple v. Cherokee Nation (April 16, 2013) South Carolina Supreme Court Decision:
Adoptive Couple v. Cherokee Nation (July 26, 2012)
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