SCOTUS and Sovereignty

SCOTUS and Sovereignty - Opinion

by Todd Warfield, NEJNAMC Communications Chair

 I sat dumbfounded at New England Annual Conference session when it was announced that the Supreme Court had upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). ICWA was originally passed in 1978, after a congressional investigation found that in the 1950s, '60s and '70s over one-third of all Native children had been removed from their homes, some forcibly, and placed with non-Indian families and institutions with no ties to the tribes. To ensure that would never happen again, the law established three preferences for the placement of Native children when they are adopted or put in foster care: the first preference is for placement with the child's extended family, then to other members of the tribe, and if neither of those is available, to members of another tribe (Totenberg, 2023). I celebrated the win along with other colleagues. 

And then last week, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) denied Navajo Nation water rights that were theirs, denied affirmative action, denied student loan relief, and denied LGBGTQIA+ rights. It was like the court was gaslighting to make a point. Mark Charles (2023) also keys in on the reminder that Indigenous rights and sovereignty are really not even in the Declaration of Independence. The Red Nation podcast (2023) tackles these topics in depth in a two part podcast (you'll need a Patreon subscription to hear part two) and also reminds us that sovereignty of Indigenous people are not guaranteed in the Constitution. It was merely the Court's decision to align with verbiage that makes no sense to us today, but the Originalists (folks that read the Constitution and try to interpret it as they would back then) that sit on the court make decisions from that lens. The "Founding Fathers" were trying to deal with the "Indian problem" and many of them owned enslaved people. The "trick or treaty" (Red Nation, 2023) was such that you either get genocide or sign a treaty giving away lands and rights. I have linked the podcast on this page.

The call to action is to contact your elected officials. Call, write, show up. The links on the side will help you locate your elected official. We can't give up. Our very lives and our futures are at stake. I really was proud to see the UMC Church and Society with the sign out front of their Washington, DC office. The photo appears on the right column as well.

​Jesus calls us to love one another. Let's do exactly that.
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References
Charles, M. (2023). The Dilemma of the Fourth of July. https://nativenewsonline.net/opinion/the-dilemma-of-the-fourth-of-july-2
Red Nation (2023). Roundtable: SCOTUS and the question of Native sovereignty. [Podcast].
https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/therednation
Totenberg, N. (2023). The Supreme Court Leaves Indian Child Welfare Act Intact.
https://www.npr.org/2023/06/15/1182121455/indian-child-welfare-act-supreme-court-decision

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