A Native American studies professor said the U.S. Supreme Court’s Thursday ruling that much of Oklahoma is a Native American reservation was a landmark for Indigenous nations’ autonomy.
The 5-4 decision on the McGirt v. Oklahoma case stated that for the purposes of federal criminal law, much of eastern Oklahoma will remain a Native American reservation. According to the majority opinion written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, this decision holds that crimes involving a Native American perpetrator or victim in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation are subject to trial under federal jurisdiction rather than state jurisdiction.
Amanda Cobb-Greetham, Native American studies professor and OU Native Nations Center director, said the decision highlights Indigenous perseverance.
“The promise the United States made just a few lifetimes ago has meaning today,” Cobb-Greetham said in an email statement. “That the U.S. Supreme Court is reading Tribal treaties and statutes related to American Indians, not as archaic relics of the past, but as living, meaningful text related to the current rights of sovereign Native nations … is an affirmation of the sovereign rights our nations have continued to exercise and of the strength of the governments we have worked to rebuild.”
This decision also means Oklahoma’s government had no jurisdiction to prosecute Jimcy McGirt — an enrolled member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma — for a major crime because the crime took place within the boundaries of the Creek Nation reservation in eastern Oklahoma.
According to the American Bar Association website, McGirt was convicted by an Oklahoma state court for three serious sexual offenses, including raping a child, on Creek reservation land in northeastern Oklahoma. He was sentenced to serve a life sentence and two 500-year sentences, to be served consecutively.
The Supreme Court case McGirt v. Oklahoma contested Oklahoma’s legal ability to try McGirt. McGirt appealed to the Supreme Court using the Major Crimes Act which states that Native Americans who are victims of or commit crimes on Native American land do not fall under state jurisdiction.
This, in turn, brought into question if the Creek land in Northeastern Oklahoma was established as a reservation, and if that reservation was disestablished by statehood.
According to the majority opinion, the court ultimately decided that while Congress has diminished the reservation over time, it has never officially withdrawn the federal government’s perpetual promise of land to Native tribes in the General Allotment Act of 1887, and specifically to the Creek Nation in 1901.
“If Congress wishes to withdraw its promises, it must say so,” Gorsuch said in the majority opinion. “Unlawful acts, performed long enough and with sufficient vigor, are never enough to amend the law.”
Oklahoma state officials and leaders from the Muscogee (Creek), Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole Nations released a press statement that addressed the confusion regarding McGirt’s conviction for his crimes.
“The Nations and the State are committed to ensuring that Jimcy McGirt, Patrick Murphy, and all other offenders face justice for the crimes for which they are accused,” the release said. “We have a shared commitment to maintaining public safety and long-term economic prosperity for the Nations and Oklahoma.”
According to Cobb-Greetham, the decision will require tribal governments and the Oklahoma State government to collaborate.
“There is no need to panic,” Cobb-Greetham said in the statement. “Tribal governments and the state government have long worked together on cross-jurisdictional, inter-sovereign issues. We already know how to handle this because we have been handling it. Hard work is ahead, but the hard work of good governance is always ongoing. We’ve got this.”
