Supreme Court Sides with Capobiancos in Indian Custody Case

Baby Veronica will be returning to James Island.

The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the James Island couple that adopted her on Tuesday. The 5-4 decision overturned the South Carolina Supreme Court decision to award custody of the 3-year-old Veronica to her biological father, a member of the Cherokee Tribe in Oklahoma.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote the court's opinion on the case and was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer. Justices Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented.

The court found that Dustin Brown, the girl's biological father never had custody of her because he gave up his parental rights and did not support the girl's biological mother financially during her pregnancy or during the first four months of Veronica's life, and that the Indian Child Welfare Act did not apply in this case. The ICWA was the basis of the S.C. Supreme Court's ruling in the case that awarded custody to Brown.

The case was argued before the Court in April.