Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-376_7l48.pdf
Page Number: 82

2 

HAALAND v. BRACKEEN 

KAVANAUGH, J., concurring 

against  federal  parties  lack  standing  to  raise  the  equal
protection  issue.  So  the  equal  protection  issue  remains 
undecided. 

In my view, the equal protection issue is serious.  Under 
the Act, a child in foster care or adoption proceedings may 
in some cases be denied a particular placement because of 
the  child’s  race—even  if  the  placement  is  otherwise 
determined  to  be  in  the  child’s  best  interests.    And  a 
prospective foster or adoptive parent may in some cases be
denied the opportunity to foster or adopt a child because of 
the  prospective  parent’s  race.    Those  scenarios  raise 
significant  questions  under  bedrock  equal  protection
principles  and  this  Court’s  precedents.  See  Palmore  v. 
Sidoti, 466 U. S. 429 (1984).  Courts, including ultimately 
this Court, will be able to address the equal protection issue
when it is properly raised by a plaintiff with standing—for 
example, by a prospective foster or adoptive parent or child 
in a case arising out of a state-court foster care or adoption 
proceeding.  See ante, at 29, 32, n. 10.