Jones v. Jones
Supreme Court of South Dakota
542 N.W.2d 119 (S.D. 1996)
Kevin Jones (plaintiff), who is Native American, and Dawn Jones (defendant), who is Caucasian, divorced after having three children together. Kevin sought custody, arguing the children should continue to be exposed to their Native American heritage, and the trial court granted him custody after expressly stating that custody decisions must be racially neutral while also evaluating Kevin's willingness and ability to expose the children to that heritage. Dawn appealed, arguing the trial court violated her equal protection rights by factoring race into the custody decision.
Whether it is proper for a court, in determining a child's best interests in a custody dispute, to consider race as it relates to the child's ethnic heritage and which parent is better prepared to expose the child to it.