Haaland v. Brackeen

The Indian Child Welfare Act is upheld against constitutional challenges because Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution gives the federal government "virtually all authority over [...] Indian tribes." Seminole Tribe of Fla. v. Florida, 517 U. S. 44, 62 (1996). Anti-commandeering principles do not apply when public and private entities are equally burdened. Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Assn., 584 U.S. ___ (2018) (slip op., at 19–20). 

Petitioners were multiple non-Indian families seeking to adopt Indian children over the objection of Indian tribes. The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) provides that Indian families must be preferred when Indian children are up for adoption, and it allows Indian tribes to intervene to match Indian children and families. Petitioners challenged several provisions of ICWA on unconstitutionality grounds. The Fifth Circuit found in favor of the Government on the Constitutional Authority and Non-Delegation questions and in favor of the Petitioners on the Anti-Commandeering claims and some of the Equal Protection claims. Petitioners appealed. 

Responding to the Constitutional Authority question, the Court relied on Art. I, §8, cl. 3 of the Constitution and interpretive law to find that the Indian Commerce Clause gives the federal government “virtually all authority over [...] Indian tribes.” Seminole Tribe of Fla. v. Florida, 517 U. S. 44, 62 (1996). Further, when Congress legislates validly it will often preempt conflicting state law. Ridgway v. Ridgway, 454 U.S. 46 (1981). 

Secondly, Petitioners argued that requiring agencies to actively seek tribal family placement and keep certain records was a violation of the anti-commandeering principle announced in Printz v. United States, 521 U. S. 898, 935 (1997). However, the Court found that the statute burdens public and private entities equally, and the anti-commandeering principle therefore did not apply. Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Assn., 584 U.S. ___ (2018) (slip op., at 19–20). 

Lastly, the Court dismissed Petitioners equal protection and non-delegation claims for lack of standing, finding that the parties had failed to show that their injury could likely be redressed by judicial relief as required by TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 594 U.S. ___ (2021) (slip op., at 7). 

AFFIRMED on Constitutional Authority claim, REVERSED on Anti-Commandeering claim, VACATED and REMANDED with instructions to DISMISS Equal Protection and Anti-Delegation claims.