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ElECtION EdItION May 2013 • cherokeephoenix.org 185 Years of Cherokee Journalism CHEROKEE PHOENIX U.S. Supreme Court hears ‘Baby Veronica’ dispute The ICWA was enacted in 1978 when Native A Cherokee Nation citizen American children were being removed from fights to keep his daughter their homes and typically placed with non- Native adoptive or foster parents. It gives tribal using the 1978 Indian Child sovereign governments and their citizens a Welfar Act. voice in Native child protection and ensures children remain connected to their ancestry BY STAFF REPORTS and traditions. The Obama administration, 18 states, WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme multiple tribal nations, current and former Court on April 16 heard oral arguments in members of Congress and children’s welfare Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, a case involving groups all supported the Brown family and the a Cherokee Nation citizen fighting for custody ICWA with legal briefs. of his biological child by invoking the federal During oral arguments, several justices Indian Child Welfare Act. debated what the ICWA’s intention is. CN citizen Dusten Brown is fighting to Lisa Blatt, attorney for the Capobiancos, keep his daughter Veronica and is utilizing the argued that Brown’s custodial or legal ICWA to ensure she remains at the family’s connection to the child was non-existent and home in Oklahoma. the ICWA was irrelevant. She accused the In 2009, Brown’s former fiancé, a non-Native Brown family and the CN of using the ICWA Hispanic woman, made arrangements for to grow the tribe’s population. their daughter to be adopted without Brown’s “You are basically relegating the child to a consent. The adopting couple, Matt and piece of property with a sign that says, ‘Indian, Melanie Capobianco of South Carolina, is also keep off. Do not disturb,’” Blatt said. non-Native. Justice Anthony Scalia said, “He wants Brown, who served a year in Iraq in the his child. How is that not breaking up an U.S. Army, was prepared to sign custodial Indian family?” rights to the child’s biological mother, but not Brown, who was represented by attorney his parental rights. When he learned of the Charles Rothfield, has rights as a parent that are biological mother’s plan to give up the child, he protected under the ICWA, states a brief filed immediately filed to stop the adoption. Citing on Brown’s behalf by the CN. ICWA guidelines, Veronica was reunited with Justice Sonya Sotomayor asked whether her Cherokee family and biological father in a stranger is better qualified to raise a child Oklahoma. than a father. She sourced the South Carolina Cherokee Nation citizen Dusten Brown and his daughter Veronica admire some When Veronica was 2, the South Carolina Supreme Court’s report that said Veronica’s horses on April 5 at an undisclosed location. The father and daughter are part of U.S. Appellate Court ruled ICWA trumped South best interest were served by living with and Supreme Court case in which a South Carolina non-Native couple are attempting Carolina state law. According to a later South being raised by her father. to get Veronica back and adopt her. Two South Carolina courts have ruled to give Carolina Supreme Court ruling, the Brown “If the father’s fit, why do you think that the the girl to her father, citing the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, and ending an family has a “deeply embedded relationship” attempted adoption by the South Carolina couple. COURTESY PHOTO with its heritage. See VERONICA, 2 Shotpouch ruled ineligible A Supreme Court ruling The Election Commission places Melvina Shotpouch nullifies Melvina Buel Anglen Cara Cowan Lee Keener outside of District 10. Shotpouch’s candidacy after Watts BY WILL CHAVEZ she fails to respond. Senior Reporter Five Tribal BY JAMI CUSTER Councilors Reporter asked justices TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court declared on April 15 to clarify TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Cherokee Nation that the boundary line between new Tribal questions Election Commission on April 19 ruled Melvina Council Districts 9 and 10 is Highway 20 in raised in the Shotpouch ineligible to run for the Dist. 10 Tribal Delaware County and not old Highway 20, redistricting Council seat in accordance with a Supreme Court which is approximately 1,000 yards to the case. decision that places her residence outside of the south. The ruling places Dist. 10 candidate district. Jack Baker Julia Coates Melvina Shotpouch of Jay outside of the According to a Supreme Court order filed on district for which she is campaigning. April 19, the boundary for Districts 9 and 10 in The majority of the two districts are in the Delaware County is Highway 20, as originally county with Dist. 9 being in the southern half established in Legislative Act 26-12. That act High court and Dist. 10 in the northern half. The Tribal passed on July 16, 2012, and created the tribe’s Council’s Rules Committee clarified the 15 new representative districts. boundary between the two districts as being denies motion According to the address on her candidacy old Highway 20, now Lindly Street, on Feb. 28 filing, Shotpouch lives about a 1,000 feet south after the tribe’s Election Commission asked Former Dist. 10 Tribal Council of the boundary in Jay along old Highway 20 or for redistricting for clarification about which highway to use. candidate Melvina Shotpouch walks Lindly Street, putting her residence in Dist. 9. Under EC rules, CN citizens Elizabeth on April 15 outside of the Cherokee reconsideration Courthouse in Tahlequah, Okla. CN citizens Elizabeth Blackwell and Matthew See RULING, 4 JAMI CUSTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Dawson protested Shotpouch’s candidacy after the Tribal Council’s Rules Committee on Feb. 28 voted to clarify the border between Districts The legislators wanted 9 and 10 as old Highway 20. The clarification a review of a ruling that resulted from the EC asking which Highway 20 to use for the boundary. deems the new 15-district The EC on March 19 denied Blackwell and council map constitutional. Dawson’s challenge, citing the clarification. That decision forced the two CN citizens to appeal to the Supreme Court. BY WILL CHAVEZ On April 15, the court ruled for the Senior Reporter appellants by re-establishing the Districts 9 and 10 boundary in Delaware County as the TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Cherokee Nation current Highway 20 or Main Street. Supreme Court on April 15 denied a motion “It is therefore the ruling of the court from five Tribal Councilors that asked the court that the boundary for District 9 and 10 as to reconsider its ruling deeming the tribe’s new originally established by LA 26-12 and upheld 15-district council map constitutional. by the court to be constitutional is Oklahoma “This court, having considered the 20 or Highway 20 as it exists today as the appellant’s amended motion to reconsider boundary for the purpose of the election,” EC and all pleadings and arguments made for and Chairman Bill Horton said on April 19 while against the same, finds and orders that said reading the court’s order. motion should be and hereby is denied,” the Election Commissioner Lindsay Earls court’s order states. then made a motion to re-establish the Chief Justice Darrell Dowty and Justices boundary between Districts 9 and 10 as John Garrett, James Wilcoxen and Angela Former Dist. 10 Tribal Council candidate Melvina Shotpouch’s residence (A) Jones signed the order. Justice Troy Wayne along “old” Highway 20 or Lindly Street in Jay, Okla. A Supreme Court ruling re- established the district’s boundary as the current Highway 20 or Main Street, See MOTION, 4 which is nearly 1,000 yards north. GOOGLE MAPS See SHOTPOUCH, 5 2 CHEROKEE PHOENIX • MaY 2013 NEws • dgZEksf Ewf #>hAmh • anszT 2013 States, groups line up in favor of federal adoption law COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – The U.S. Supreme This 2011 photo Appealing to states that have signed onto a brief supporting Court on April 16 heard an emotional family shows Veronica the state Supreme the federal law are Alaska, Arizona, California, challenge to a federal law on the adoption of trick-or-treating in Court, the Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Native American children, with several states, Charleston, S.C. The Capobiancos said Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New tribes and children’s welfare groups lining up to U.S. Supreme Court they had bonded Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, support the current rules. on April 15 heard with Veronica Washington and Wisconsin. The case involves a South Carolina couple a challenge to the and argued that In addition, the federal government has filed fighting to adopt a girl who, after a court federal law on the removing her was an amicus brief backing the law, as have more battle, was returned to her biological father in adoption of Native detrimental to than a dozen child welfare organizations. Oklahoma. American children, her development. State courts have been at odds on the law’s At issue is the Indian Child Welfare Act, a law with several states, But justices sided application. The American Association of that gives tribes and relatives a say in decisions tribes and children’s with Brown last Adoption Attorneys hopes the matter will be affecting children with Native American welfare groups summer, saying clarified by the court. The group has filed a heritage. Passed in 1978 because of the high lining up to support in an emotional brief supporting the Capobiancos’ case. It says number of Indian children being removed the current rules. opinion that, while the court has ruled on the rights of mothers and from their homes by public and private The case involves the Capobiancos unwed fathers – rights that, a past president of agencies, the act gives the tribe and relatives a South Carolina were “ideal parents,” the group said, federal law hasn’t defined, at a say in decisions affecting the child.