Judgment 5-4 limited the Supreme Court ruling from 2020, according to which a large part of eastern Oklahoma remains a reservation for American Indians. The first ruling left the state unable to prosecute Native Americans accused of crimes in tribal areas that include most of Tulsa, the state’s second largest city with a population of about 413,000. A state court later ruled that the Supreme Court ruling also stripped the state of its ability to prosecute anyone for crimes committed on tribal land if either the victim or the perpetrator was a Native American. This would have left the federal government with the exclusive power to prosecute such cases, and federal officials had acknowledged that they did not have the resources to prosecute all the crimes that had befallen them. But the new Supreme Court ruling said the state can also intervene when only the victims are members of the tribe. “The state’s interest in protecting victims of crime includes both Indian and non-Indian victims,” Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote in court. “After the 2020 decision, about 43% of Oklahoma is now considered an Indian country, and the issue of the state’s ability to prosecute these crimes” has suddenly become enormous, “Cavanaugh wrote. In a dispute involving the three liberal members of the tribunal, Judge Neil Gorsuch wrote that the ruling “allows Oklahoma to infiltrate a feature of tribal sovereignty recognized since its inception.” The case has highlighted the already strained relationship between Indigenous tribes in Oklahoma and Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has struggled to regain tribal jurisdiction over the state. Stitt himself is a citizen of the Cherokee nation, the nation’s largest indigenous people with a population of about 400,000, about 261,000 of whom live in Oklahoma. Native Americans make up just under 10 percent of Oklahoma’s nearly 4 million people, according to the Census Bureau. “One can only hope that the political branches and the future courts will do their duty to honor the promises of this Nation, even as we have not been able to make our own today,” Gorsus wrote. Stitt said he was “excited” by the Supreme Court ruling that he “maintains that the Indian country is part of a state, not separate from it”. Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum, who backed the state in the case, said the decision helps clarify Tulsa’s jurisdiction. He pledged to work with the state and the tribal nations “who are our partners in building a secure city.” In the case of Cherokee leader Chuck Hoskin Jr., the court “avoided the legal precedent and the basic principles of congressional authority and Indian law.” He said the court had “failed in its duty to honor the promises of this nation, disregarded the statutes of Congress and accepted the” unlawful contempt of Cherokee sovereignty “, citing in part Gorsuch’s disagreement. The case stemmed from a state court ruling rejecting the conviction of Victor Castro-Huerta, who is not a Native American. Castro-Huerta has been accused by Oklahoma prosecutors of malnutrition of his disabled 5-year-old stepdaughter, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Castro-Huerta has since pleaded guilty to a federal child negligence charge in exchange for seven years in prison, although he has not yet been formally convicted. The Supreme Court case concerned the Muscogee reservation, but later rulings confirmed the historical reservations of other Native American tribes in Oklahoma, including the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Quapaw, and Seminole nations. Stitt had previously clashed with tribal leaders over his desire to renegotiate the gambling tribal contracts he claimed were expiring. Federal and state courts have ruled against Stitt in gambling lawsuits. Last year, Stitt decided not to renew his hunting and fishing licenses with the Cherokee and Choctaw nations as part of a tribal dispute.
Miller reported from Oklahoma City.
