## Facts

- Unmarried biological parents, both enrolled members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, lived and were domiciled on the Choctaw reservation in Neshoba County, Mississippi.
- The mother traveled off the reservation to give birth to twins at a hospital in Harrison County, Mississippi.
- Shortly after birth, the parents executed consents to adoption by the Holyfields, a non-Indian couple.
- A Mississippi chancery court in Harrison County entered an adoption decree.
- The Tribe moved to vacate the decree, asserting that the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) gave the tribal court exclusive jurisdiction because the twins were domiciled on the reservation.
- The chancery court denied relief, and the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed on the ground that the twins were not domiciled on the reservation because they had never been physically present there and were surrendered for adoption off-reservation.

## Issues

1. Whether “domicile” in ICWA § 1911(a) is determined by state law or by a uniform federal standard.
2. Whether newborn Indian children born off-reservation to parents domiciled on the reservation are themselves domiciled on the reservation for purposes of ICWA’s exclusive tribal-court jurisdiction.

## Decision

- The U.S. Supreme Court reversed in a 6–3 decision.
- The Court held that ICWA requires a uniform federal rule for determining domicile, rather than incorporation of varying state-law definitions.
- Applying federal common-law principles, the Court held the twins’ domicile followed their parents’ domicile on the reservation, despite the off-reservation birth and lack of physical presence on the reservation.
- Because the twins were domiciled on the reservation, ICWA § 1911(a) vested exclusive jurisdiction in the tribal court, and the state adoption decree was entered without jurisdiction.

## Legal Principles

- ICWA § 1911(a) grants tribal courts exclusive jurisdiction over child-custody proceedings involving an Indian child who resides or is domiciled within the tribe’s reservation.
- “Domicile” under ICWA is a question of federal law governed by a uniform federal standard.
- Under general common-law rules, a minor’s domicile is determined by the domicile of the parent(s) (and, for children born out of wedlock, typically the custodial parent).
- ICWA’s jurisdictional allocation cannot be avoided through strategic off-reservation birth or similar private actions that would shift state-court jurisdiction.

## Conclusion

The Court held that ICWA applies a uniform federal domicile rule and that the twins’ domicile was on the Choctaw reservation because their tribal-member parents were domiciled there, requiring exclusive tribal-court jurisdiction and invalidating the state adoption decree for lack of jurisdiction.


Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians v. Holyfield, 490 U.S. 30 (1989)