Federal judge strikes down landmark law on American Indian adoptions

The landmark law governing adoptions of American Indian children, designed to keep them within Indian families, has been struck down as unconstitutional by a federal judge in Texas.

In an Oct. 4 ruling that has stunned Indian rights advocates, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor found that the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 illegally gives Indian families preferential treatment in adoption proceedings for Indian children based on race, in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee.

http://www.startribune.com/federal-judge-strikes-down-landmark-law-on-american-indian-adoptions/496730621/