The U.S. Supreme Court will hear extended oral arguments next month in a case concerning the federal rules around fostering and adopting Native American children, granting a request in which the government said the closely watched litigation involves "numerous issues of constitutional law."

That request, which the high court approved Monday, will give the U.S. Department of Justice and several tribes a combined 50 minutes to defend the Indian Child Welfare Act, which opponents say is racially discriminatory because it favors placement in Native homes.

Justice Department lawyers will have half an hour to make their case, with counsel for the tribes defending ICWA — which include the Cherokee and Navajo nations — given the other 20 minutes, according to a proposal filed this summer by Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar. The state of Texas, which is challenging the 1978 law, will have 25 minutes before the justices, and counsel for a group of non-Native families that also seek to dismantle its placement preferences will also have 25 minutes.

Read more at Law360