WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Oklahoma can prosecute non-Native Americans for crimes committed on tribal land when the victim is an Indian.
The 5-4 decision reduced the 2020 Supreme Court ruling that much of eastern Oklahoma remains a Native American reservation. The first decision left the state unable to prosecute Indians accused of crimes in tribal lands, which include most of Tulsa, the second largest city in the state with a population of about 413,000.
A state court later ruled that the Supreme Court’s decision also deprived the state of the opportunity to prosecute someone for crimes committed on tribal land if the victim or perpetrator was an Indian.
This would leave the federal government with the sole authority to prosecute such cases, and federal officials acknowledged that they lacked the resources to prosecute all the crimes they had.
But a new Supreme Court ruling says 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 Cavanaugh told the court.
Following the 2020 decision, about 43% of Oklahoma is now considered an Indian state, and the question of the state’s ability to prosecute these crimes “suddenly became very important,” Cavanaugh wrote.
Disagreeing with the three liberal members of the tribunal, Judge Neil Gorsuch wrote that the decision “allows Oklahoma to interfere with a recognized characteristic of tribal sovereignty since its founding.”
The case highlighted already strained relations between indigenous Oklahoma tribes and Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is struggling to regain legal jurisdiction over the state’s tribal lands. Stit himself is a citizen of the Cherokee nation, which is the largest Native American tribe in the country 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.
“We can only hope that the political branches and future courts will fulfill their duty to keep the promises of this nation, although today we have failed to fulfill our own,” Gorsuch wrote.
Stitt said he was “disappointed” by the Supreme Court’s decision to “confirm that the Indian side is part of a state, not separate from it”. Tulsa’s GT Bynum mayor, who backed the state in the case, said the decision helps clarify Tulsa’s legal jurisdiction. He promised to work with the state and the tribal nations, “which are our partners in building a safe city.”
For the head of the Cherokee Nation, Chuck Hoskin Jr., the court “ruled against the legal precedent and the basic principles of the power of Congress and Indian law.” He said the court “did not fulfill its obligation to fulfill the promises of this nation, violated the statutes of Congress and accepted the” illegal disregard for Cherokee sovereignty “, citing in part Gorsuch’s disagreement.
The case stems from a state court decision to overturn the sentence against Victor Castro-Huerta, a non-Indian. Castro-Huerta was accused by Oklahoma prosecutors of malnourishing his 5-year-old stepdaughter with a disability, a member of the Eastern Cherokee Cherokee.
Castro-Huerta has since pleaded guilty to federal child negligence in exchange for seven years in prison, although he has not yet been formally convicted.
The Supreme Court case included the Muscogee Reserve, but later rulings confirmed the historical reserves of other Native American tribes in Oklahoma, including the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Quapaw, and Seminole nations.
Stitt has previously clashed with tribal leaders over his desire to renegotiate tribal gambling agreements, which he claims are expiring. Federal and state courts have ruled against Stitt in gambling cases.
Last year, Stitt decided not to renew hunting and fishing license agreements with the Cherokee and Chokto nations as part of a tribal dispute.
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Miller reported from Oklahoma City.
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