Supreme Court rules much of eastern Oklahoma is still considered tribal land

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a large portion of eastern Oklahoma remains an American Indian reservation.

Justices decided the territorial dispute between Oklahoma and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in which the tribe is challenging the state’s authority to prosecute a crime committed on a reservation.

Jimcy McGirt is serving two 500-year prison terms for raping a 4-year-old girl.

McGirt’s attorneys argued the rape happened on land that is still a reservation under treaties from before Oklahoma was declared a state.

“Congress established a reservation for the Creek Nation. An 1833 Treaty fixed borders for a ‘permanent home to the whole Creek Nation of Indians,’ 7 Stat. 418, and promised that the United States would “grant a patent, in fee simple, to the Creek nation of Indians for the [assigned] land’ to continue ‘so long as they shall exist as a nation, and continue to occupy the country hereby assigned to them.’”

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n a joint statement, the U.S. Attorneys for the Northern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Oklahoma responded to the ruling Thursday morning:

“As Oklahoma’s United States Attorneys, we are confident tribal, state, local, and federal law enforcement will work together to continue providing exceptional public safety under this new ruling by the United States Supreme Court.”

The State of Oklahoma, Muscogee (Creek), Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole Nations released a joint statement today following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the McGirt v. Oklahoma case.

Cox Media Group