Haaland v. Brackeen Cherokee Nation v. Brackeen Texas v. Haaland Brackeen v. Haaland | |
---|---|
Argued November 9, 2022 Decided June 15, 2023 | |
Full case name | Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior, et al. v. Chad Everet Brackeen, et al. Cherokee Nation, et al. v. Chad Everet Brackeen, et al. Texas v. Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior, et al. Chad Everet Brackeen, et al. v. Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior, et al. |
Docket nos. | 21-376 21-377 21-378 21-380 |
Citations | 599 U.S. 255 ( more ) |
Argument | Oral argument |
Opinion announcement | Opinion announcement |
Case history | |
Prior | Brackeen et al v. Zinke et al, 388 F. Supp. 3d 514 (N.D. Tex. 2018); Brackeen et al v. Bernhardt et al, 937 F.3d 406 (5th Cir. 2019); Brackeen et al v. Haaland et al, 994 F.3d 249 (5th Cir. 2021) (en banc) |
Questions presented | |
Whether various provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act violate the anticommandeering doctrine of the Tenth Amendment, the nondelegation doctrine, Congress's limited authority under the Indian Commerce Clause, or the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment, and whether the petitioners have standing. | |
Holding | |
1. The Court declines to disturb the Fifth Circuit’s conclusion that ICWA is consistent with Congress’s Article I authority. 2. Petitioners’ anticommandeering challenges, which address three categories of ICWA provisions, are rejected. 3. The Court does not reach the merits of petitioners’ two additional claims—an equal protection challenge to ICWA’s placement preferences and a nondelegation challenge to §1915(c), the provision allowing tribes to alter the placement preferences—because no party before the Court has standing to raise them.Contents
| |
Court membership | |
| |
Case opinions | |
Majority | Barrett, joined by Roberts, Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Jackson |
Concurrence | Gorsuch, joined by Sotomayor, Jackson (Parts I and III) |
Concurrence | Kavanaugh |
Dissent | Thomas |
Dissent | Alito |
Laws applied | |
Haaland v. Brackeen, 599 U.S. 255 (2023), was a Supreme Court of the United States case brought by the states of Texas, Louisiana, and Indiana, and individual plaintiffs, that sought to declare the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) unconstitutional. In addition to Haaland v. Brackeen (Docket No. 21-376), [1] three additional cases were consolidated to be heard at the same time: Cherokee Nation v. Brackeen (Docket No. 21-377), Texas v. Haaland (Docket No. 21-378), and Brackeen v. Haaland (Docket No. 21-380).
The matter originally came up in a Texas District Court on an adoption petition filed by Chad and Jennifer Brackeen. After their effort was challenged by the Navajo Nation, the Brackeens brought suit in the U.S. District Court in Fort Worth. The Cherokee Nation, Oneida Nation, Quinault Indian Nation, and Morongo Band of Mission Indians intervened in the case. The U.S. District Court declared that the ICWA was unconstitutional and the case was appealed.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the District Court in a panel opinion. The full court, on rehearing the case en banc , held that parts of the law, that set federal standards for lower and state courts, were constitutional, but that the parts of the law that required state agencies to perform certain acts were unconstitutional as a violation of the Tenth Amendment.
The Supreme Court heard the case on November 9, 2022, and the decision was handed down on June 15, 2023. In a 7–2 ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed the Fifth Circuit's determination that the ICWA is consistent with congressional powers. The appellant claims of state commandeering were rejected, reversing the Fifth Circuit's decision. No determinations were made as to appellant Fourteenth Amendment claims for lack of standing.
In 1978, the Congress enacted a law to protect American Indian children from removal from their tribes to be adopted by non-Indians. [2] As many as 35 percent of Indian children were being removed from their homes, mainly from intact families, and being placed in non-Indian homes. [3] [4] This was often not in the best interest of the child, but for racial reasons, with "programs that took Native American children from their homes and placed them into boarding schools as part of a targeted process of assimilation." [5]
Congress established the following order of priorities for placing an Indian child who had to be removed from a home. First, the child should be placed with a member of the child's extended family, other members of the child's tribe, or other Indian families. Second, the child could be placed in a foster home approved by the child's tribe, or third, in a foster home approved by the state or other non-Indian authority. Finally, they could be placed in an institution operated or approved by an Indian tribe. [6]
In June 2016, a 10-month-old Navajo boy was placed with Chad and Jennifer Brackeen, a former civil engineer and an anesthesiologist, respectively, after his Navajo mother (who lived in Texas) was found to be using drugs. [7] The father of the child is Cherokee. In 2017 a Texas state court terminated the parental rights of both the biological parents. [fn 1] [8] Under the provisions of the ICWA, the Navajo Nation stepped in and sought to place the child with a Navajo family, but that failed and the Brackeens were allowed to adopt the child. [9] The Brackeens later attempted to adopt the boy's sister in state court, but the girl's extended family also sought to take in the girl. [10] The Brackeens then filed suit in federal court to overturn the ICWA on the grounds of racial discrimination. [11]
The adoption petition for the sister by the Brackeens was heard in state District Court by Judge Alex Kim, who stated that ICWA violated the Texas Constitution. [12] In state court, the Brackeens argued that they had more money than the child's Navajo relations, and would therefore be better for the child. [12] Following the presentation of evidence, the state's attorney stated that according to state guidelines, the child should be placed with her Navajo family. [12] Judge Kim disagreed and placed the child with the Brackeen family, but allowed limited visitation with her Navajo family. [13] Both sides were unhappy with portions of the decision and appealed, settlement was subsequently reached and the state appeal was dismissed. [14]
In March 2016, a newborn girl was surrendered by her mother and subsequently placed with Nick and Heather Libretti. According to the Nevada law, the mother gave up her parental rights when she surrendered the child. The child's father was found and he expressed a desire to raise her, but, as he was homeless and abusing substances, she was not placed with him. The child's paternal grandmother was a member of the Tigua Pueblo tribe, and the tribe indicated that they intended to intervene if the child was not placed with relatives. Though the Librettis were able to adopt the child, they joined a lawsuit challenging ICWA, stating that the law had violated their constitutional rights. [15]
In 2016, a 5-year-old girl was placed with Jason and Danielle Clifford in Minnesota. When the girl was 3 years old, her parents were arrested for drugs and child neglect, and their parental rights were terminated. The maternal grandmother, who was a member of White Earth Ojibwe Nation, was found to be unfit to raise the child by advocates for the child. The tribe initially stated that the child did not qualify for tribal membership. However, in January 2017, as the Cliffords were preparing to adopt the child, the tribe intervened, saying that they had lacked relevant information when they had found her to be ineligible. The tribe held that the child should be placed with her grandmother. [16] The child was placed with her grandmother, and the Cliffords joined the Brackeen suit. [17]
The Brackeens' federal lawsuit was filed in the federal District Court in Fort Worth in October 2017, and assigned to Judge Reed O'Connor. [18] The Cherokee Nation, Oneida Nation, Quinault Indian Nation, and Morongo Band of Mission Indians intervened in the case. [19] Attorney Kathryn Fort was officially admitted pro hac vice on June 20, 2018 along with the Indian Law Clinic took the initiative to intervene in the case. Their co-counsel Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP also lent their support to the cause. The primary objective behind their intervention was to ensure that the Native voices were heard and represented fairly when the court ultimately decided the case. [20] [21]
The states of Texas, Louisiana, and Indiana were the state plaintiffs, while the non-Indians Brackeens, Librettis, Cliffords, and Ms. Hernandez were individual plaintiffs. [22] The Librettis (Nick and Heather) had sought to adopt a Tigua Pueblo child, with the approval of the child's mother, Altagracia Hernandez. [fn 2] [23] The Tigua Pueblo tribe intervened in the Nevada state court proceedings, but agreed not to contest the adoption in late 2018. [23] The Cliffords (Jason and Danielle) had attempted to adopt a child whose grandmother was a member of the White Earth Band of the Ojibwe Tribe in Minnesota. In the Clifford case, the child was placed with the maternal grandmother in accordance with ICWA by the Minnesota court that heard their case. [24]
The federal defendants included the Department of the Interior and Secretary Ryan Zinke, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Director Bryan C. Rice, and the Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Alex Azar. [fn 3] [26]
In 2018, Judge O'Connor issued an order finding that:
1) ICWA's mandatory placement preferences violated equal protection; 2) provision of ICWA granting Indian tribes authority to reorder congressionally enacted adoption placement preferences violated non-delegation doctrine; 3) ICWA provision requiring states to apply federal standards to state-created claims commandeered the states in violation of the Tenth Amendment; 4) Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) exceeded its statutory authority in promulgating regulations, in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA); 5) BIA regulations were not entitled to Chevron deference; and 6) prospective and adoptive parents whose adoptions were open to collateral attack under ICWA had no fundamental right to care, custody, and control of children in their care. [27]
It was the first time a constitutional challenge to the ICWA had been successful. [28]
After the District Court found that the ICWA and the applicable federal regulations "violated equal protection, the Tenth Amendment, and the nondelegation doctrine", [29] all sides appealed the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The case was assigned to a panel consisting of Senior Judge Jacques L. Wiener Jr., Judge James L. Dennis, and Chief Judge Priscilla Owen and argued on March 13, 2019.
Judge Dennis delivered the opinion of the Court on August 9, 2019, which was modified on August 16, 2019. [30] The opinion reversed the decision of the District Court, and rendered judgment for the federal government and the Indian tribes. [31] Dennis ruled that although the Brackeens and other plaintiffs had standing to sue, [32] the District Court erred by considering this to be a race-based law. [33] Instead, it was a law based on political considerations, citing a United States Supreme Court case, United States v. Antelope which had held "that federal legislation with respect to Indian tribes ... is not based upon impermissible racial classifications. [34]
The panel also looked at whether ICWA required that state courts and state officials were "commandeered" to enforce federal law and concluded, two to one, that it had not. This was based on the Supremacy Clause, and the panel concluded that ICWA did not commandeer the agencies, but merely regulated the adoption and placement of Indian children. [35] Chief Judge Owen dissented from this part of the opinion. [36]
On November 7, 2019, the Fifth Circuit, at the request of one of the judges, ordered that the case be heard en banc . [fn 4] [39] Once ordered, 486 Indian tribes, 59 American Indian organizations, and 26 states filed amicus briefs in support of the constitutionality of the ICWA. [40] On January 22, 2020, the Court heard oral arguments. [41] On April 6, 2021, the court issued a per curiam opinion that summarized the primary opinions of Judge Dennis or Judge Kyle Duncan. [42] The court unanimously ruled that at least one party had standing to bring the suit, [43] and a majority held that Congress had the authority to enact the ICWA. [44]
The per curiam opinion also held that the "Indian child" classification did not violate equal protection. [45] It did however, in a non-precedental holding, determine that the adoptive placement and preference for an "Indian foster home" did violate equal protection. [fn 5] [47] The court held "that ICWA's "active efforts," § 1912(d), expert witness, § 1912(e) and (f), and recordkeeping requirements, § 1915(e), unconstitutionally commandeer state actors", [48] violating the Tenth Amendment, and affirming the District Court. However, it also held "that the following provisions validly preempt contrary state law to the extent they apply to state courts (as opposed to state agencies): the placement preferences, § 1915(a) and (b), and the placement and termination standards, § 1912(e) and (f)", reversing the lower court. [47]
The published opinions by Dennis and Duncan, together with the concurrences and dissents by other judges were over 200 pages. [49]
Following the en banc decision of the Fifth Circuit Court, the United States, the State of Texas, the Cherokee Nation, and the Brackeens all petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari . On February 28, 2022, the Court granted all four petitions. [fn 6] [50] The Supreme Court consolidated the other three cases into Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior, et al. v. Chad Everet Brackeen, et al., allotting one hour for oral argument. All four cases dealt with the same basic subject matter, but from the perspective of each individual appellant, and it is a more efficient use of the Court's time to hear them at the same time.
The case was argued on November 9, 2022. The Court had originally planned on one hour of oral argument, but argument took over three hours. [51]
The Brackeens and the other two non-Native American couples were represented pro bono by Matthew D. McGill of Gibson Dunn. [1] [51] The first argument presented was that ICWA did away with the "best interest of the child" test used by most states. [52] McGill argued that ICWA violated the equal protection clause by treating Native American children differently, and argued that Congress did not have the authority under the Constitution to regulate Native Americans throughout the United States. [53] McGill argued that the plenary power doctrine in American Indian case law was not based nor authorized under the Indian Commerce Clause of the Constitution. [54] On questioning by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, McGill stated that Congress's "plenary power applies to the tribe's areas of its sovereign interests, tribal lands, treaty powers, its internal affairs, its ability to self-govern." [55] Justice Sonia Sotomayor immediately questioned that position, pointing out a list of laws governing Indians since the late 1700s. [56]
The United States, represented by Deputy Solicitor General Edwin S. Kneedler argued that the Congress did have the right to regulate the tribes, so long as the law was "rationally related" to the government's obligations to the tribes. [51]
The position of the States was presented by Texas Solicitor General Judd E. Stone, II. Stone argued that ICWA violated the Tenth Amendment anti-commandeering provisions. [51]
Ian H. Gershengorn argued the position of the American Indian tribes to the Court.
In a majority opinion written by Justice Barrett and joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Jackson; the Court upheld the validity of the ICWA. [57] The Slip Opinion, published June 15, 2023, affirmed the judgment of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals regarding Congress's constitutional authority to enact the ICWA. [58]
Justice Gorsuch filed a concurring opinion in which Justices Sotomayor and Jackson joined as to parts I and III in order to provide additional historical context for the enactment of the ICWA.
Justice Kavanaugh also filed a brief concurrence to emphasize his concern over the Equal Protection claim raised by the petitioners which was not addressed by the Court for lack of standing given the federal context.
Justice Thomas and Justice Alito filed dissenting opinions. [59]
Following the lower court decisions, New Mexico passed a law to codify various provisions of the ICWA into state law. [60]
There was fear that if the ICWA was overridden by the Supreme Court, that it "completely erase [...] tribal sovereignty" according to Lauren van Schilfgaarde, a tribal sovereignty advocate. [fn 7] [62]
Kathryn Fort [21] commented in a Propublica, article published after SCOTUS upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act. "I was shocked," said Fort. “The messaging has really come through that people who are removing Native children from their family and culture, you're not doing good things for Native people." Fort remains outspoken in listing items that would represent significant progress. [63] For native people and their children, The 7-2 vote represented a significant victory. Kathryn Fort has been recognized for her significant contributions and "pivotal role' in this landmark case by The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) and The American Indian Law Section of the Michigan State Bar. [64] [65]
The Nonintercourse Act is the collective name given to six statutes passed by the United States Congress in 1790, 1793, 1796, 1799, 1802, and 1834 to set boundaries of American Indian reservations. The various acts were also intended to regulate commerce between White Americans and citizens of Indigenous nations. The most notable provisions of the act regulate the inalienability of aboriginal title in the United States, a continuing source of litigation for almost 200 years. The prohibition on purchases of Indian lands without the approval of the federal government has its origins in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and the Confederation Congress Proclamation of 1783.
United States v. Washington, 384 F. Supp. 312, aff'd, 520 F.2d 676, commonly known as the Boldt Decision, was a legal case in 1974 heard in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The case re-affirmed the rights of American Indian tribes in the state of Washington to co-manage and continue to harvest salmon and other fish under the terms of various treaties with the U.S. government. The tribes ceded their land to the United States but reserved the right to fish as they always had. This included their traditional locations off the designated reservations.
Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, 517 U.S. 44 (1996), was a United States Supreme Court case which held that Article One of the U.S. Constitution did not give the United States Congress the power to abrogate the sovereign immunity of the states that is further protected under the Eleventh Amendment. Such abrogation is permitted where it is necessary to enforce the rights of citizens guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment as per Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer. The case also held that the doctrine of Ex parte Young, which allows state officials to be sued in their official capacity for prospective injunctive relief, was inapplicable under these circumstances, because any remedy was limited to the one that Congress had provided.
The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 is a United States federal law that governs jurisdiction over the removal of American Indian children from their families in custody, foster care and adoption cases.
United States v. Kagama, 118 U.S. 375 (1886), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of the Major Crimes Act of 1885. This Congressional act gave the federal courts jurisdiction in certain Indian-on-Indian crimes, even if they were committed on an Indian reservation. Kagama, a Yurok Native American (Indian) accused of murder, was selected as a test case by the Department of Justice to test the constitutionality of the Act.
Jacques Loeb Wiener Jr. is a Senior United States Federal Judge of the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, Louisiana.
United States v. Navajo Nation, 556 U.S. 287 (2009) was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Navajo Nation initiated proceedings in the Court of Federal Claims alleging that when they sought the assistance of the United States Secretary of the Interior to renegotiate their original leasing agreement with the Peabody Coal Company in 1984, a procedural process defined by the 1964 Indian Mineral Leasing Act (IMLA) of 1938, the United States Secretary of the Interior had been improperly influenced by the coal company, and as a result, had breached his fiduciary duty to the Nation when he approved the 1987 lease amendments.
James Leon Dennis is an American lawyer, jurist, and former politician serving as a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, with chambers in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Reed Charles O'Connor is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2007.
United States v. Lara, 541 U.S. 193 (2004), was a United States Supreme Court landmark case which held that both the United States and a Native American (Indian) tribe could prosecute an Indian for the same acts that constituted crimes in both jurisdictions. The Court held that the United States and the tribe were separate sovereigns; therefore, separate tribal and federal prosecutions did not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause.
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma v. Leavitt, 543 U.S. 631 (2005), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a contract with the Federal Government to reimburse the tribe for health care costs was binding, despite the failure of Congress to appropriate funds for those costs.
United States v. White Mountain Apache Tribe, 537 U.S. 465 (2003), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held in a 5–4 decision that when the federal government used land or property held in trust for an Indian tribe, it had the duty to maintain that land or property and was liable for any damages for a breach of that duty. In the 1870s, the White Mountain Apache Tribe was placed on a reservation in Arizona. The case involved Fort Apache, a collection of buildings on the reservation which were transferred to the tribe by the United States Congress in 1960.
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians v. Holyfield, 490 U.S. 30 (1989), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Indian Child Welfare Act governed adoptions of Indian children. It ruled that a tribal court had jurisdiction over a state court, regardless of the location of birth of the child, if the child or the natural parents resided on the reservation.
Bryan v. Itasca County, 426 U.S. 373 (1976), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that a state did not have the right to assess a tax on the property of a Native American (Indian) living on tribal land absent a specific Congressional grant of authority to do so.
Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe, 455 U.S. 130 (1982), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States holding that an Indian tribe has the authority to impose taxes on non-Indians that are conducting business on the reservation as an inherent power under their tribal sovereignty.
Oneida Indian Nation of New York v. County of Oneida, 414 U.S. 661 (1974), is a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court concerning aboriginal title in the United States. The original suit in this matter was the first modern-day Native American land claim litigated in the federal court system rather than before the Indian Claims Commission. It was also the first to go to final judgement.
Salazar v. Ramah Navajo Chapter, 567 U.S. 182 (2012), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the United States government, when it enters into a contract with a Native American Indian tribe for services, must pay contracts in full, even if Congress has not appropriated enough money to pay all tribal contractors. The case was litigated over a period of 22 years, beginning in 1990, until it was decided in 2012.
Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, 570 U.S. 637 (2013), was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States which held that several sections of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) do not apply to Native American biological fathers who are not custodians of a Native American child. The court held that the procedures required by the ICWA to end parental rights do not apply when the child has never lived with the father. Additionally, the requirement to make extra efforts to preserve the Native American family also does not apply, nor is the preferred placement of the child in another Native American family required when no other party has formally sought to adopt the child.
Washington State Dep't of Licensing v. Cougar Den, Inc., 586 U.S. ___ (2019), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the Yakama Nation Treaty of 1855 preempts the state law which the State purported to be able to tax fuel purchased by a tribal corporation for sale to tribal members. This was a 5-4 plurality decision, with Justice Breyer's opinion being joined by Justices Sotomayor and Kagan. Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Ginsburg, penned a concurring opinion. There were dissenting opinions by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh.
Kathryn E. Fort is an attorney, author, professor, director the MSU Law Clinic at Michigan State University College of Law, Associate Director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center, and runs the Indian Law Clinic. She is considered a national expert on ICWA. Fort teaches American Indian Children & the Law, Indian Law Clinic courses I and II. Fort started the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Appellate Project.