Supreme Court rules for adoptive parents in Baby Veronica case

[ExCop-LawStudent]

28. Tribal citizenship

No there is no "threshold" so long as the child is eligible for citizenship in the tribe. For example, if the tribe requires 1/4 blood, a child with 1/8 blood would not be covered.

If the tribe, like the United States for children born overseas to a U.S. citizen, uses lineal descent, then all it takes is one drop. Please note that this one drop that the Cherokee Nation uses is the same as what the American government uses for children born oversees. Both the tribe and the U.S. require that the parent be a citizen, but have no blood quantum requirement.

The father had not knowingly disowned the child, and certainly not legally. The birth mother and the adoptive couple went out of their way to conceal it from him. That's not my opinion, that is the opinion of the lower courts that heard the case.

The tribe can intercede with or without the parents permission, just as the U.S. government can intercede to defend the rights of its citizens.

Another thing to remember. The Indians are tribal members first, U.S. citizens second. That is because, unlike everyone else born in the U.S., Indians were only granted citizenship by an act of Congress in 1924. See 43 Stat. 253, June 2, 1924, codified as amended at 8 U.S.C.A. 1401(b). The right of Indians to vote was still being argued as late as 1975. "In 1924, Congress granted citizenship to all American Indians who had not previously enjoyed that status, including many Oglala Sioux. At that time certainly, if not before, Indians became endowed with the fundamental rights of national citizenship, including the right to vote." Means v. Wilson, 522 F.2d 833, 839 (8th Cir. 1975). The U.S. citizenship can easily be taken away by Congress, and the tribes are well aware of this, although none think it will happen.

That is one of the reasons that tribes will fight tooth and nail to protect its children.