The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that much of eastern Oklahoma (including Tulsa) is located on an Indian reservation.
In a 5-4 ruling, the justices declared that Congress never diminished or disestablished the land as a reservation and that the stae lacks the authority to prosecute tribal members for major crimes committed in the area, instead they must be prosecuted by the federal government in accordance with the Major Crimes Act.
In a joint statement, the State of Oklahoma, Muscogee (Creek), Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole Nations said they will work together to move forward after the Supreme Court’s decision. “The Nations and the State are committed to implementing a framework of shared jurisdiction that will preserve sovereign interests and rights to self-government while affirming jurisdictional understandings, procedures, laws, and regulations that support public safety, our economy, and private property rights,” the statement read. “We will continue our work, confident that we can accomplish more together than any of us could alone.”
The majority opinion points out assistance with homeland security, historical preservation, schools, highways, clinics, housing, and nutrition programs, as possible changes from the perspective of State law.
The dissenting opinion was that decision would destabilise Oklahomas governance and that Congress by making Indians citizens had effecticely disestablished the Reservation by intent.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had a more direct statement of opposition to the opinion ― making clear that he viewed the decision as taking away land from Oklahoma, rather than an acknowledgment that it wasn’t Oklahoma’s to begin with.
So what do you all think wagon trainers of NSG, I think that this is a truely historic moment and that the original promise of the Civilised Tribes living in partnership with the new settlers might now be achievable if everyone is willing to work together and the US Government is able to keep the promises it made and honour its treaties.
