The U.S. Supreme Court could be looking to invalidate a long-standing federal policy governing the adoption of Native American children.
/ FILE
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court could be looking to invalidate a long-standing federal policy governing the adoption of Native American children.
Later this year, the high court is set to hear an appeal from a South Carolina couple seeking to reverse a state court decision to return their adopted daughter to her biological father in Oklahoma.
The girl's heritage is Cherokee Indian, and the South Carolina Supreme Court said the Indian Child Welfare Act gave the tribe -- and the child's Indian relatives, like her biological father -- a say in decisions affecting her.
Marcia Zug teaches Indian law at the University of South Carolina. She says the justices' decision to hear the case could mean the court is mulling the constitutionality of that federal law and may invalidate it.
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