The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a huge swath of the state of Oklahoma is Native American land for certain purposes, siding with a Native American man who had challenged his rape conviction by state authorities in the territory.
The 5-4 decision, with an opinion authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, endorsed the claim of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation to the land, which encompasses three million acres, including most of the city of Tulsa.
The decision means that only federal authorities, no longer state prosecutor, can lodge charges against Native Americans who commit serious alleged crimes on that land, which is home to 1.8 million people. Of those people, 15% or fewer are Native Americans.
“Today we are asked whether the land these treaties promised remains an Indian reservation for purposes of federal criminal law,” Gorsuch wrote.
“Because Congress has not said otherwise, we hold the government to its word,” he wrote.
The case hinged on application of the Major Crimes Act, which gives federal authorities, rather than state prosecutors, jurisdiction over crimes committed by or against Native Americans in Native American territory.
“For MCA purposes, land reserved for the Creek Nation since the 19th century remains ‘Indian country,’ ” Gorsuch wrote in the opinion.
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Replies
This violates state's rights and the 10th Amendment. The Federal Government has no right to ovesee any state land unless that land was purchased or given to the D.C. Corporation that calls itself our "Govenment."