Here.
“I think it means a lot to our foster kids that we’re Cherokee,” said Carney Duncan, a gentle, soft-spoken man whose hair falls below his shoulders. “My mom and dad always helped people and took them in. I have an ‘Uncle Joe’ who is no kin but we took him in. And a ‘brother’ who lived with us who is no blood kin. We help our own. It’s a Cherokee value.”
Oral arguments are March 13.
Principal Briefs on the Tribal Defendant/Intervenor and Federal Side (Pro-ICWA)
Navajo Nation Motion to Intervene and Proposed Brief
Amicus Briefs, Pro-ICWA
Constitutional Law Profs Brief
Casey Family Programs and Thirty Child Welfare Organizations Amicus Brief
21 State Attorneys General Amicus Brief
Indian Law Scholars Amicus Brief
325 Tribal Governments and 57 Tribal Organizations Amicus Brief
Native American Women’s Amicus Brief
Principal Briefs on the State and Individual Plaintiff side (Anti-ICWA)
Amicus Briefs (Anti-ICWA)
ProjectonFairRepresentationAmicus
Reply Briefs by Tribal Intervenors and Federal Government
Intervenor Navajo Nation Reply Brief
Quote from Intervening Tribes Statement:
We applaud the broad coalition of federal lawmakers, attorneys general from 21
states, and 30 child welfare organizations who have joined 325 Tribal governments and 57 Tribal organizations in filing numerous amicus briefs with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to defend the Constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).The past 96 hours have witnessed an unprecedented and overwhelming demonstration of support for ICWA and its constitutionality as a wave of amicus briefs were filed urging the Fifth Circuit to reverse the district court’s ruling in Brackeen v. Zinke, which erroneously deemed key provisions of ICWA as being
unconstitutional.Passed more than 40 years ago by Congress, ICWA was designed to reverse decades of cultural insensitivity and political bias that had resulted in one-third of all Indian children being forcibly removed by the government from their families, their tribes and their cultural heritage.
ICWA ensures the best interests and wellbeing of Native American children are protected. ICWA preserves the stability and cohesion of Tribal families, Tribal communities and Tribal cultures. It maintains and reinforces the political and cultural connections between an Indian child and his or her tribe.
Multiple parties and amici filed strong briefs in the Brackeen v. Zinke case in the Fifth Circuit yesterday. Twenty-one state attorneys general filed an amicus brief in support of the law, as did 325 tribal nations and 57 tribal organizations. 30 child welfare organizations also signed on to the Casey Family Programs “gold standard” brief. Law professors from more than 20 law schools signed on to the three law professor amicus briefs.
Appellee states and individual plaintiffs will file theirs by February 6. Oral arguments are expected the week of March 11.
Merits
Amicus Briefs
Constitutional Law Professors Amicus Brief
Casey Family Programs and Thirty Child Welfare Organizations
325 Tribal Governments and 57 Tribal Organizations Amicus Brief
Joint Tribal Statement re Fifth Circuit Stay 12.3.18
We applaud the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for staying a recent ruling in Texas that struck down the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). This stay decision protects children from potential abuse and forced separation from their families.
As a result, tribal families and their children in Texas and Indiana will continue to be protected from the types of abusive child welfare practices that Congress outlawed 40 years ago when it enacted ICWA.
By granting the stay, the protections provided by ICWA will remain in full force pending an appeal of the ruling handed down in October by a federal judge in the Northern District of Texas.
The Cherokee Nation, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, the Oneida Nation and the Quinault Indian Nation will continue to defend Native children and Native families by advocating for the constitutionality of ICWA by all available means. We strongly believe the ruling holding the Indian Child Welfare Act is unconstitutional was wrong, will ultimately be reversed on appeal, and as a result, the rights of Indian children, families and communities protected by the Indian Child Welfare Act will be affirmed and reinforced.
New Fifth Circuit page here.
Tribal Motion for Stay Pending Appeal
Finally, the district court’s ruling will cause significant inconsistency throughout the country. As this Court noted in Bryant, when issuing a stay, “[t]he inevitable disruption that would arise from a lack of continuity and stability in this important area of the law” will harm the parties and “the public interest at large.” Id.
In Texas v. Zinke, the ICWA case in the northern district of Texas, the district court judge denied the four intervening defendant tribes’ motion to stay the decision. There has been no stay request filed in the Fifth Circuit nor a notice of appeal.
Navajo Nation filed a motion to intervene for the purpose of appeal.
Statement from Partnership for Native Children explaining the stay is here.
There were some thirty entries on the Texas v. Zinke docket this month. Relevant documents are on the case page.
Since our last update, the feds filed another motion to dismiss. The plaintiffs’ seperated into private and state parties for briefing–so the state plaintiffs have filed one brief, and the individual plaintiffs filed another (up to 70 pages each). Both, however, filed a combined opposition to the government’s motion to dismiss and motions for summary judgment.
Ohio and Goldwater have filed amicus briefs on the opposition to the motion to dismiss.
Navajo Nation motioned to intervene for the purpose of a Rule 19 dismissal.
The federal government and the plaintiffs are going back and forth on the scheduling of additional briefing, but there are no orders yet.
The plaintiffs in the ICWA suit out of the federal court in Texas asked for time to file an amended complaint. It’s here. Case page is here.
Additional state parties are Indiana and Louisiana. Additional children involved are from White Earth and Ysleta del sur Pueblo.
A word of warning–I swore at the complaint by paragraph 4.
ETA: This interesting (related?) article out of Indiana: DCS Director Resigns
