Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-376_7l48.pdf
Page Number: 15.0

Cite as:  599 U. S. ____ (2023) 

7 

Opinion of the Court 

gency stay of the transfer and filed this lawsuit.  The Nav-
ajo  family  then  withdrew  from  consideration,  and  the 
Brackeens finalized their adoption of A. L. M. 

The Brackeens now seek to adopt A. L. M.’s biological sis-
ter, Y. R. J., again over the opposition of the Navajo Nation. 
And while the Brackeens hope to foster and adopt other In-
dian children in the future, their fraught experience with
A. L. M.’s adoption makes them hesitant to do so. 

2 
Altagracia  Hernandez  chose  Nick  and  Heather  Libretti
as adoptive parents for her newborn daughter, Baby O.  The 
Librettis  took  Baby  O.  home  from  the  hospital  when  she
was three days old, and Hernandez, who lived nearby, vis-
ited Baby O. frequently.  Baby O.’s biological father visited 
only once but supported the adoption. 

Hernandez is not an Indian.  But Baby O.’s biological fa-
ther  is  descended  from  members  of  the  Ysleta  del  Sur 
Pueblo Tribe, and the Tribe enrolled Baby O. as a member.  
As  a  result,  the  adoption  proceeding  was  governed  by 
ICWA.  The Tribe exercised its right to intervene and ar-
gued,  over  Hernandez’s  objection,  that  Baby  O.  should  be
moved  from  the  Librettis’  home  in  Nevada  to  the  Tribe’s 
reservation in El Paso, Texas.  It presented a number of po-
tential placements on the reservation for Baby O., and state
officials began to investigate them.  After Hernandez and 
the Librettis joined this lawsuit, however, the Tribe with-
drew its challenge to the adoption, and the Librettis final-
ized their adoption of Baby O.  The Librettis stayed in the
litigation because they planned to foster and possibly adopt 
Indian children in the future. 

3 
Jason and Danielle Clifford, who live in Minnesota, fos-
tered Child P., whose maternal grandmother belongs to the 
White Earth Band of Ojibwe Tribe.  When Child P. entered