{"id":46336,"date":"2022-02-15T18:13:44","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T23:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/american-indian-rights"},"modified":"2025-06-17T17:08:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T21:08:32","slug":"indigenous-justice","status":"publish","type":"issue","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/indigenous-justice","title":{"rendered":"Indigenous Justice"},"parent":46673,"menu_order":4,"template":"","class_list":["post-46336","issue","type-issue","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"featured-image":210880,"intro":"The ACLU is committed to defending tribal sovereignty and the rights of Indigenous peoples to be free from discrimination and governmental abuse of power.","what-you-need-to-know":[{"highlighted":"574","description":"574 tribes are currently recognized by the federal government and have tribal sovereignty to make and be governed by their own laws.There are several hundred tribal communities that do not have federal recognition. "},{"highlighted":"25-35%","description":"It is estimated that at least 25-35 percent of Native American\/Alaska Native children were removed from their homes by public and private agencies before the passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in 1978."},{"highlighted":"85%","description":"Eighty-five percent of the children who were removed from their homes before ICWA were placed in non-Native households."}],"promo":{"description":"","button":"","url":""},"faq":{"description":"","faq-items":[{"title":"What is Indigenous justice?","content":"Indigenous justice is the freedom and ability of Indigenous people to exercise their rights and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu-nm.org\/en\/issues\/indigenous-justice\"> sovereignty <\/a>over themselves, their people, and their land. This includes the freedom to engage in traditional ways of governing, being, healing, and knowing while also learning and celebrating culture, language, tradition, and heritage by ceremonies and other practices."},{"title":"What is tribal regalia?","content":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/topic\/protecting-indigenous-students-right-to-wear-tribal-regalia\">Tribal regalia<\/a> are culturally and religiously significant items of dress that are worn by some Indigenous people during traditional ceremonies, activities, and important life events, including rites of passage like graduation. Tribal regalia can include a broad range of clothing items, accessories, and adornments. In the context of high school graduations, some Indigenous students have sought to wear beadwork or an eagle feather on their graduation caps. Others have worn traditional moccasins and leggings, sealskin caps, or leis. Tribal regalia can also include hairstyles such as hair worn long or in braids."},{"title":"What can states do to further protect Indigenous rights now that the Supreme Court has reaffirmed Indian Child Welfare Act validity?","content":"States must act swiftly to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/racial-justice\/protecting-indian-child-welfare-act-icwa-state-level-brackeen-v-haaland\">pass their own state ICWA<\/a> laws to strengthen the implementation of the federal law. ICWA creates a floor of strong protections, but states are free to build on this foundation and further support tribal child welfare systems. And where the Supreme Court has identified limitations on what federal ICWA requires \u2014 for example, in the context of searching for placements that satisfy ICWA\u2019s preferences \u2014 states can and should require more. States are also well poised to work with tribal nations to craft their own ICWA laws that cater to specific issues that might arise in their jurisdiction."}]},"featured-stories":[{"image":104675,"title":"My Son's Hair is Part of a Thousand-Year-Old Tribal Culture. His School Called it a 'Fad.'","content-type":"news_and_commentary","last-updated":null,"description":"The school\u2019s requirement is a rejection of who he is and a demand that he sacrifice his culture and heritage to conform to baseless and unfair rules.","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/racial-justice\/my-sons-hair-is-part-of-a-thousand-year-old-tribal-culture-his-school-called-it-a-fad"}],"latest-stories":[{"image":113532,"title":"Protecting the Indian Child Welfare Act at the State Level","type":"news_and_commentary","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/racial-justice\/protecting-indian-child-welfare-act-icwa-state-level-brackeen-v-haaland"},{"image":133826,"title":"Looking Beyond Haaland v. Brackeen","type":"news_and_commentary","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/racial-justice\/looking-beyond-haaland-v-brackeen"},{"image":133673,"title":"Mississippi Student Wins Fight to Wear Tribal Regalia at Graduation","type":"news_and_commentary","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/racial-justice\/mississippi-student-wins-fight-to-wear-tribal-regalia-at-graduation"}],"whats-at-stake":{"title":"What's at Stake","description":"Indigenous peoples and their governments have suffered discrimination and injustice at the hands of the United States since the country\u2019s founding, yet contemporary civil rights discussions all too often ignore their rights. Indigenous communities are among the most impoverished in the nation, and the stigma of past discrimination regularly rears its head in the spheres of public health, education, and juvenile justice.\r\n\r\nThe ACLU has filed important class-action lawsuits challenging discrimination against Indigenous people in education, voting, and the child welfare system. In 1978, Congress enacted the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a federal law designed to protect Indigenous families from \u201cabusive child welfare practices that resulted in the separation of large numbers of Indian children from their families and tribes through adoption or foster care placement.\u201d In 2013 the ACLU used ICWA to challenge pervasive discrimination and the lack of due process afforded to Indigenous families in emergency child custody proceedings.\r\n\r\nIn 2022, the ACLU, along with 12 ACLU state affiliates and represented by Cooley LLP, filed an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/aclu-files-amicus-brief-urging-supreme-court-uphold-indian-child-welfare-act\">amicus brief<\/a> with the Supreme Court urging the court to uphold the constitutionality of ICWA, which was at risk of being gutted by the court. In 2023, the Supreme Court issued a decision in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/cases\/brackeen-v-haaland\"><i>Haaland v. Brackeen<\/i><\/a>, delivering a landmark victory for tribal sovereignty, Native children, Native families, and the future of Native people. The ACLU is now urging states to take action and introduce or strengthen existing state-level ICWA protections. We are committed to continue defending tribal sovereignty and the rights of Indigenous peoples to be free from discrimination and governmental abuse of power."},"actions":"","drupal-id":244,"is_hidden_issue":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>American Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The ACLU is committed to defending tribal sovereignty and the rights of Indigenous peoples to be free from discrimination and governmental abuse of power.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Indigenous Justice | American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ACLU is committed to defending tribal sovereignty and the rights of Indigenous peoples to be free from discrimination and governmental abuse of power.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/indigenous-justice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-17T21:08:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/indigenous-justice\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/indigenous-justice\",\"name\":\"Indigenous Justice | American Civil Liberties Union\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-15T23:13:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-17T21:08:32+00:00\",\"description\":\"The ACLU is committed to defending tribal sovereignty and the rights of Indigenous peoples to be free from discrimination and governmental abuse of power.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/indigenous-justice\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/\",\"name\":\"American Civil Liberties Union\",\"description\":\"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. 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