Thread by @RewireNewsGroup

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in a challenge to a 44-year-old law that prioritizes placing Native American children in Native American homes. The case is called Brackeen v. Haaland and the law at issue is the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).

On this day in 1978, Congress enacted ICWA in response to abusive child welfare practices that resulted in large numbers of Native children being separated from their homes, families, and tribes.

The Brackeens and the state of Texas (where they reside) are asking the Supreme Court to overturn over 40 years of precedent authorizing Congress to pass laws like ICWA, which gives special treatment to Native Americans as a result of the long history of oppression and genocide.

The Brackeens and Texas are arguing that ICWA violates the Tenth Amendment because it infringes on a state’s right to determine how foster children should be placed.

The Brackeens are also arguing that ICWA violates the Equal Protection Clause because it prevents them from adopting Native children and removing them from their tribes.

Texas is arguing that ICWA is unconstitutional because it was designed to prevent Native children from being raised according to “white middle-class standards.” (Yes, Texas is actually arguing that.)

The Brackeens, who view fostering and adopting children as a sacrifice in service to God, would like this to be a case about race—a case about how ICWA prioritizes certain racial groups (Native Americans and Alaska Natives) over people like them (white people). But it’s not.

This case is about tribal sovereignty and Congress’s unique authority and obligation to Native Americans. It’s also about staving off the inevitable genocide that will result if Native American children are stripped from their culture and forcibly assimilated.

If this Supreme Court term is about advancing the white supremacist project—and it is—the Brackeen case fights right in.

Follow along as @AngryBlackLady live-tweets the oral arguments on the @RewireNewsGroup account tomorrow ahead of a rapid-reaction episode of #BoomLawyered.

The white grievance is real and on display. Texas actually argued that the ICWA is unconstitutional because it prevents Native children from being raised according to white middle-class standards. Yep. That’s an eyebrow raiser for sure.