25 U.S.C. § 1727
Section 1727 · Implementation of Indian Child Welfare Act
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case Great Northern Paper, Inc. v. Penobscot Nation (2001)
Most recently applied in Maine v. Johnson (August 2007)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The Passamaquoddy Tribe or the Penobscot Nation may assume exclusive jurisdiction over Indian child custody proceedings pursuant to the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (92 Stat. 3069) [25 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.]. Before the respective tribe or nation may assume such jurisdiction over Indian child custody proceedings, the respective tribe or nation shall present to the Secretary for approval a petition to assume such jurisdiction and the Secretary shall approve that petition in the manner prescribed by sections 108(a)–(c) of said Act [25 U.S.C. 1918(a)–(c)].
Any petition to assume jurisdiction over Indian child custody proceedings by the Passamaquoddy Tribe or the Penobscot Nation shall be considered and determined by the Secretary in accordance with sections 108(b) and (c) of the Act [25 U.S.C. 1918(b) and (c)].
Assumption or jurisdiction under this section shall not affect any action or proceeding over which a court has already assumed jurisdiction.
For the purposes of this section, the Passamaquoddy Indian Reservation and the Penobscot Indian Reservation are “reservations” within section 4(10) of the Act [25 U.S.C. 1903(10)].
For the purposes of this section, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians is an “Indian tribe” within section 4(8) of the Act [25 U.S.C. 1903(8)], provided, that nothing in this subsection shall alter or effect the jurisdiction of the State of Maine over child welfare matters as provided in section 1725(e)(2) of this title.
Until the Passamaquoddy Tribe or the Penobscot Nation has assumed exclusive jurisdiction over the Indian child custody proceedings pursuant to this section, the State of Maine shall have exclusive jurisdiction over Indian child custody proceedings of that tribe or nation.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (92 Stat. 3069), referred to in subsec. (a), is Pub. L. 95–608, Nov. 8, 1978, 92 Stat. 3069, as amended, which is classified principally to chapter 21 (§1901 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 1901 of this title and Tables.