Half of Oklahoma is Native American land, decrees court

THE US Supreme Court ruled yesterday that nearly half of Oklahoma was Native American land, a decision that some officials warned could throw the state into chaos.

The decision means that for the first time much of eastern Oklahoma is legally considered a reservation. More than 1.8 million people live on the land, including 400,000 in the city of Tulsa.

The unique case represented the opportunity for the Supreme Court to weigh in on the limits of tribal sovereignty and revisit the history of displacing native tribes from their land.

Under the ruling, tribe members who live within the boundaries would become exempt from state obligations such as state taxes; Native Americans found guilty in state courts may be able to challenge their convictions on jurisdictional grounds. The tribe also may obtain more power to regulate alcohol sales and expand casino gambling.

The question before the court Jimcy Mcgirt, a member of the-seminole Nation of Oklahoma, who argued his case ought to be tried by federal government because crimes were committed on historic Muscogee (Creek) Nation land.

Mcgirt was convicted of sex crimes against a child by state authorities in the Nation’s historical boundaries. He argued that Congress had never clearly destroyed the sovereignty of the Creek Nation over the area, covering about half the state. The ruling voided Mcgirt’s sentence of 1,000 years in jail but he could face a new trial in federal court.

The state of Oklahoma argued that the Creek Nation’s claimed territory was not a reservation; that the decision would “cause the largest judicial abrogation of state sovereignty in American history, cleaving Oklahoma in half ”.

Jonodev Chaudhuri, ambassador of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and a former chief justice of the tribe’s Supreme Court, said: “This would only apply to a small subset of Native Americans committing crimes within the boundaries.”