In yet another historic Supreme Court decision, the highest court of the land has ruled that the Eastern portion of Oklahoma is and has been a Native American reservation for almost two centuries.
Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch—the only judge from the western United States—sided with the court's liberal bloc in the 5-4 decision. He also wrote the 42-page majority opinion.
The case—McGirt v. Oklahoma—asked of the Justices to rule whether the Muscogee Creek Nation boundaries set by the 1832 Treaty were ever dissolved by Congress, effectively questioning which governmental bodies have jurisdiction over the territory.
Defendant Jimcy McGirt, a citizen of the Seminole Nation who committed a 1997 crime in what he deemed to be Creek Tribal land, claimed that the state of Oklahoma should not have been allowed to prosecute him.
"Today we are asked whether the land these treaties promised remains an Indian reservation for purposes of federal criminal law," wrote Gorsuch. "Because Congress has not said otherwise, we hold the government to its word."
Although McGirt's guilt was never in question, the ruling will clearly affect the area's citizens, with plenty of state convictions likely to be re-examined—a fact that wasn't lost on Gorsuch.
"Looking to the future, Oklahoma warns of the burdens federal and tribal courts will experience with a wider jurisdiction and increased caseload. But, again, for every jurisdictional reaction there seems to be an opposite reaction: recognizing that cases like Mr. McGirt’s belong in federal court simultaneously takes them out of state court," he wrote. "So while the federal prosecutors might be initially understaffed and Oklahoma prosecutors initially overstaffed, it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see how things could work out in the end."
These have been a momentous few months for the Supreme Court and for the country as a whole. In the past weeks, the court has issued opinions about LGBTQ+ rights, religious liberties, immigration and abortion, now gearing up to delve into President Donald Trump's financial documents to determine whether the government could subpoena his banks.
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