The justices heard an appeal Tuesday from the South Carolina couple who wanted to adopt the girl, named Veronica. The outcome of the case was unclear after arguments that included an unusually emotional appeal from the couple's lawyer. Justice Anthony Kennedy said he wished he could call upon King Solomon to figure it out.
The case turns on the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, enacted in 1978 because Indian children were being removed from their homes and typically placed with non-Indian adoptive or foster parents. The law gives tribes and relatives a say in decisions affecting a child. State courts have been at odds on the law's application.
The Obama administration, 18 states, several Indian tribes, current and former members of Congress and children's welfare groups have lined up in support of the father. The National Council for Adoption and the American Association of Adoption Attorneys are among the groups supporting the South Carolina couple.
Dusten Brown, a member of the Cherokee Nation, invoked the federal law to stop the adoption arranged by the girl's non-Indian mother when she was pregnant and the Charleston, S.C.-area couple, Matt and Melanie Capobianco. The couple was present at Veronica's birth in Oklahoma. Brown had never met his daughter and, after the mother rebuffed his marriage proposal, played no role during the pregnancy and paid no child support after Veronica was born.
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