The Supreme Court leaves Indian Child Welfare Act intact (npr.org)

In a major victory for Native American rights, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld key provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act, a law enacted 45 years ago to remedy decades of past government abuse.

By a 7-2 vote, the court ruled that the law does not impermissibly impose a federal mandate on traditionally state-regulated areas of power.

Writing for the court majority, Justice Amy Coney Barrett pointed to two centuries of precedent that have established a broad congressional right to legislate on Indian affairs, including family law matters.

"The Constitution does not erect a firewall around family law," she said. "On the contrary," she wrote, "we have not hesitated to find conflicting state family law pre-empted" by federal law.

While the tone of Barrett's opinion was often technical, it is noteworthy that two of her seven children are adopted, as are Chief Justice John Roberts' children.