The Road to Brackeen: Defending ICWA 2013-2023

From 2013 to 2023, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was challenged in the courts more than the Affordable Care Act. This Article lays out the history of the fight over ICWA from Baby Girl to Haaland, from my perspective as a clinical professor who has been involved with every major ICWA case since 2013, as well as my observations about why ICWA was so vulnerable to an organized litigation attack despite continued bipartisan and widespread support of the law.