Posted on 07/09/2020 8:51:10 AM PDT by Enlightened1
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.
The conservative justice Gorsuch was joined in the majority by the court’s four liberal justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
Chief Justice John Roberts dissented from the ruling, as did his fellow conservatives, Clarence Thoma,s Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh.
In his dissent, Roberts warned that “across this vast area” now deemed to be Native American land, “the State’s ability to prosecute serious crimes will be hobbled and decades of past convictions could well be thrown out.”
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Gorsuch joined the Liberals.
Tulsa now sits on a reservation. I realize their doing this for the Indian guy but this works both ways. Tulsa residents are no longer under Oklahoma law.
Very Interesting!
Masks off in Tulsa?
Wonder how the ancient Lenape tribe would be handling criminals if they still “owned” Manhattan and thus had jusrisdiction over it.
Tulsa residents
Think I would put up a casino on my part of the reservation.
That’s great!
Crap, shoulda married that Creek girl from Tulsa that I was dating back in the ‘70s!
I woulda been a made guy in the Tribe, get my own teepee in Broken Arrow!
No, it only applies to Native Americans in the area.
I’m sure their next step will be to institute a new tax on non-Indian residents, which will be funnelled through the government, with a fraction being “distributed” to native Americans, while the rest will vanish into the pockets and businesses of the politicians and their cronies.
A treaty is a treaty. We’ve already broken a bunch of them with the indians.
The case sprang from the conviction of Creek member Jimmy McGirt, who was convicted by an Oklahoma court of raping a four-year-old child on land whose ownership was in dispute in the case. 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
A great current book, “Killers of the Flower Moon, The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (David Grann) details the ownership of NE Oklahoma by the Osage people, and the SCOTUS decision regarding the land’s ownership.
The tribes could grant every member diplomatic immunity or simply refuse to prosecute for some crimes. At that point, the Feds can step in and prosecute.
Absolutely not. The Statute specifically says: “[a]ny Indian who commits” certain enumerated offenses “against the person or property of another Indian or any other person” “shall be subject to the same law and penalties as all other persons committing any of the above offenses, within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States.” 18 U. S. C. §1153(a).
“This particular incursion has its limits—applying only to certain enumerated crimes and allowing only the federal government to try Indians. State courts generally have no jurisdiction to try Indians for conduct committed in “Indian country.” Negonsott v. Samuels, 507 U. S. 99, 102–103 (1993).
>> Chief Justice John Roberts dissented from the ruling, as did his fellow conservatives, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh. <<
Heh.
Gotta tell you, Impy, I'm torn on this one.
On the one hand, Gorsuch being the "lone GOP judge" to ONCE AGAIN side with the four commies and author this opinion (which will have terrible consequences once implemented) is yet another example to say "I told you so" to the AlwaysTrumpers who laughed off warnings about Gorsuch and said "LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!! GORSUCH IS SCALIA 2.0 CUZ MY MAN TRUMP SAYS SO!! GOD BLESS PDJT FOR APPOINTING HIM!!!
On the OTHER hand, if you want to look at this decision purely from an "originalist" standpoint, I suppose Gorsuch WOULD have a valid point, as the "original intent" of politicians at the time they formed Oklahoma probably WAS to "set aside" all that land for exclusive use of Indian tribes. So I guess I gotta admit his decision IS an "originalist" interpretation of the law.
But meh, if Gorsuch cared a whit about "originalism" he wouldn't have published his fantasy that the authors of the 1964 civil rights act had bearded men in dresses and two dudes having anal sex in mind when they wrote the law.
Combine that with Roberts line of “... decades of past convictions could well be thrown out” and my reaction is this: good on Gorsuch here... it’s not the court’s duty to worry about possible consequences. That’s the job of Congress and the legislative branch in general. If the law-makers screwed up, they need to fix the problem - not an activist court.
That said, it’s really odd that I find myself aligned with the libs... I guess I have to hope they voted that way for wholly different reasons.
so no reservation jurisdiction where non-indians are legally 2nd class citizens (as is the case on many reservations).
State Laws do not apply to indians in delineated territory
Now will Oklahoma have to release all convicted Indians from prison? Yes according to Supreme Court. Oklahoma screwed. Must be retried in Federal Court. Not enough Prosecutors to do that.
“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.”
It’s about who gets to prosecute criminal Indians.
Kind of weird.
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