Opinion of the Court
these efforts have proved unsuccessful.” §1912(d). According to petitioners, this subsection directs state and local agencies to provide extensive services to the parents of Indian children. It is well established that the Tenth Amendment bars Congress from “command[ing] the States’ officers, or those of their political subdivisions, to administer or enforce a federal regulatory program.” Printz v. United States, 521 U. S. 898, 935 (1997). The “active efforts” provision, petitioners say, does just that.
Petitioners’ argument has a fundamental flaw: To succeed, they must show that §1912(d) harnesses a State’s legislative or executive authority. But the provision applies to “any party” who initiates an involuntary proceeding, thus sweeping in private individuals and agencies as well as government entities. A demand that either public or private actors can satisfy is unlikely to require the use of sovereign power. Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Assn., 584 U. S. ___, ___–___ (2018) (slip op., at 19–20).
Notwithstanding the term “any party,” petitioners insist that §1912(d) is “best read” as a command to the States. See id., at ___ (slip op., at 21) (whether a federal law directly regulates the States depends on how it is “best read”). They contend that, as a practical matter, States—not private parties—initiate the vast majority of involuntary proceedings. Despite the breadth of the language, the argument goes, States are obviously the “parties” to whom the statute refers.
The record contains no evidence supporting the assertion that States institute the vast majority of involuntary proceedings. Examples of private suits are not hard to find, so we are skeptical that their number is negligible. See, e.g., Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, 570 U. S. 637, 644–646 (2013) (prospective adoptive parents); In re Guardianship of Eliza W., 304 Neb. 995, 997, 938 N. W. 2d 307, 310 (2020) (grandmother); In re Guardianship of J. C. D., 2004 S. D. 96, ¶4, 686 N. W. 2d 647, 648 (2004) (grandparents); In re
