Supreme Court upholds American Indian treaty promises, orders Oklahoma to follow federal law
The Supreme Court has ruled that Oklahoma prosecutors lack the authority to pursue criminal cases in a large chunk of eastern Oklahoma that remains an American Indian reservation. The court’s ruling casts doubt on hundreds of convictions won by local prosecutors. But Justice Gorsuch suggested optimism. The case revolved around an appeal by a Native American man who claimed state courts had no authority to try him for a crime committed on reservation land that belongs to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
