McGirt v. Oklahoma was a U.S. Supreme Court case that affirmed the Muscogee Nation's reservation was never disestablished. In a 5-4 decision on July 9, 2020, the court ruled the tribe, and subsequently the Five Tribes in Oklahoma, had jurisdiction over tribal citizens for major crimes committed on reservation land.
In the process, the decision upheld half of Oklahoma as Indian Country.
Amy Pierce was appointed as the Choctaw presiding district court judge in January 2022. She said in 2020, the tribe had around 400 cases. Now, she said it sees more than 4,500 criminal cases per year.
She noted that because the tribe sensed the jurisdictional reaffirmation that lay ahead, leaders prepared and allocated financial resources to widen their court capacity.
"You heard all this rhetoric at the beginning that there were going to be cases that fell through the cracks. There was going to be dangerous criminals out on the street. There were going to be all these horrible things. The sky was going to fall because of McGirt," Pierce said. "We absolutely have not seen that."
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has been a vocal critic of the McGirt decision. He has argued the decision harms the state government's sovereignty and creates a public safety risk. In his final State of the State address, he said that "this issue will continue to split our state, both literally and figuratively, unless we address it head on."
Pierce said there have been strains on the courts over time, including initial confusion over jurisdiction. But she added the confusion has subsided, and through more than 75 cross-deputization agreements, the roles of law enforcement in the area have become defined.
"I think you hear a lot of rhetoric that it's awful, it's terrible, but that's just not the reality," Pierce said. "It's not the truth that we're seeing at all for those of us here on the ground dealing with McGirt."
The landmark McGirt case and the conversations that followed often highlighted the concept of tribal sovereignty, which refers to a tribal nation's right to govern its citizens. Pierce said this term is not merely a buzzword; it represents a responsibility.
"You just have different jurisdictions throughout the state of Oklahoma, and this is another jurisdictional piece that's added on to it," Pierce said.
At a quarterly Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Tribes meeting on Friday, Choctaw Nation Principal Chief Gary Batton said through its court network and wraparound services, the tribe is able to provide justice.
"That's exercising our sovereignty," Batton said. "...We're just not about incarceration, we're about making sure that people get well and get back into society."
'Sovereignty Day'
While the McGirt case specifically applied to the Muscogee Nation and its reservation, the rest of the state's largest five tribes also benefited from the outcome. That's because SCOTUS ruled the Muscogee reservation was never disestablished through an act of Congress, subsequently meaning its treaties and those of the other tribes were still valid.
The Choctaw, Cherokee and Muscogee nations all took to social media to commemorate the McGirt ruling Thursday. Muscogee Nation, which closed its offices in celebration, refers to July 9 as "Sovereignty Day."
Muscogee Nation Principal Chief David Hill said modern battles over sovereignty are a continuation of those fought by the tribes centuries ago.
"We are still here," Hill said in a video. "We are going to continue to be here, and we will fight for everything that we have."
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. released a video stating the tribes' sovereignty is not new. Rather it was affirmed in McGirt and the Hogner v. State case that followed, reconfirming the nearly 7,000 miles of the Cherokee Nation reservation.
"These decisions were not gifts from a court; they were the recognition of promises made and obligations that should never have been questioned," Hoskin said.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
