User:Michilds382/McGirt v. Oklahoma

Background
Prior to its statehood in 1907, about half of the land in Oklahoma in the east, including the Tulsa metro area today, had belonged to the Five Civilized Tribes: the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole tribal nations whose name was trademarked due to their adoption of much of Anglo-American standards. There had been several decades of warfare and conflict during the 19th century over these lands between the Native Americans and the United States. This was mainly due to the bitterness between the White Americans and Native Americans. This tension was created due to the White Americans' efforts in changing them from bringing what they falsely viewed as savage to their definition of "civilized". Eventually these conflicts led to the Trail of Tears, a march that was over 1,000 miles that the US Government required the Native Americans to do. By 1906, the United States Congress passed the Oklahoma Enabling Act, which had been taken to disestablish the reservations, and enabling Oklahoma's statehood. The former reservation lands, those of the Five Civilized Tribes as well as the other tribes in the state, were allocated into areas by tribe that were given suzerainty governing rights to the tribe to handle internal matters for Native Americans within the boundaries, but otherwise the state retained jurisdiction for non-Native Americans and for all other purposes such as law enforcement and prosecution.

In Sharp v. Murphy, Patrick Murphy, a citizen of the Muscogee-Creek Nation, admitted to committing murder in the state of Oklahoma, and was subsequently tried by the state courts around 2015. During these trials, Murphy argued that the language of the Oklahoma Enabling Act did not specify that the Native American reservations were disestablished, and because he had committed the murder within the Muscogee reservation territory, that his crime was subject to federal jurisdiction and not state under the Major Crimes Act. This argument was rejected by the state and on its first appeal within the federal courts, but at the Tenth Circuit in 2017, the court found in favor of Murphy's argument that the Enabling Act did fail to disestablish the territories, and thus Murphy should have been prosecuted by the federal courts. The state petitioned to the Supreme Court in 2018, which accepted to hear the case. However, as Justice Neil Gorsuch was part of the Tenth Circuit panel that heard the case on appeal, he recused himself from all hearings on the case. Because only eight Justices heard the case, it remained unresolved at the end of the 2018–2019 term; the Court had stated plans to hold another hearing on the case in the 2019–20 term but had not set a date. Many court analysts believed the case to be deadlocked due to Gorsuch's recusal. copied from McGirt v. Oklahoma

Statements of the case
Jimcy McGirt was an enrolled member of the Seminole tribe. In 1991, having recently been discharged from prison, he moved in with and married another member of the tribe at Broken Arrow, who was 10 years his senior. McGirt's wife had a granddaughter, whom McGirt would sexually abuse on an almost-daily basis when she was just four years old. McGirt's wife witnessed the sexual abuse, and rather than report it, she assisted him in covering up the crimes, and threatened the girl in order to get her to not speak about the crimes. McGirt was arrested on November 4, 1996 after turning himself in on an outstanding warrant. Bail was set at $25,000, and McGirt was released from jail in January of 1997 after posting 20% of the bail. In June of 1997, McGirt was found guilty, and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus two consecutive 500-year sentences.

The Tenth Circuit went on to decide that the Muscogee (Creek) Reservation had not been erased by Congress in the case of Murphy v. Royal. This 2017 decision was what eventually led to McGirt's decision to petition for writ of habeas corpus on the basis that the jurisdiction for the case lies with the native tribe, not the state. The first petition was in Alfalfa County District Court. This petition was disregarded. McGirt then filed another petition in the Oklahoma Supreme Court who sent it to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (OCCA). OCCA also dismissed McGirt's petition. Eventually, McGirt had appealed all the way to the Supreme Court who had decided to hear his case. copied from McGirt v. Oklahoma

Supreme Court
McGirt was one of a dozen cases in which the Supreme Court opted to use teleconferencing for oral arguments for the first time in the court's history due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The arguments for McGirt were heard on May 11, 2020. Observers to the court stated that some justices raised concerns of how ruling in favor of McGirt, in recognizing that the reservations were never disestablished, would impact not only existing convicted prisoners within the state but how the federal courts would subsequently need to handle approximately 8,000 felonies that occur annually on those lands, as well as the impact on legal matters related to businesses and other civil actions that would fall under tribal regulations rather than the state's. Attention was given to the stance of Justice Gorsuch, who appeared to doubt Oklahoma's argument that the lands were effectively disestablished. Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated that should the Court find in favor of McGirt, ruling that the reservations were never formally disestablished, Congress would be able to easily remedy the situation with legislation to affirm the disestablishment.

Majority Decision
The Court issued its decision on McGirt as well as a per curiam decision on Sharp following the basis of McGirt on July 9, 2020. The 5–4 majority opinion was written by Justice Neil Gorsuch and joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan, and determined that for purposes of the Major Crimes Act, Congress had failed to disestablish the Indian reservations and thus those lands should be treated as "Indian country". Gorsuch wrote, "Today we are asked whether the land these treaties promised remains an Indian reservation for purposes of federal criminal law. Because Congress has not said otherwise, we hold the government to its word." Gorsuch further assessed that disestablishment was a power only Congress could exercise, affirmed by Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock. He wrote "Under our Constitution, States have no authority to reduce federal reservations lying within their borders. Just imagine if they did. A State could encroach on the tribal boundaries or legal rights Congress provided, and, with enough time and patience, nullify the promises made in the name of the United States. That would be at odds with the Constitution, which entrusts Congress with the authority to regulate commerce with Native Americans, and directs that federal treaties and statutes are the 'supreme Law of the Land'." Gorsuch wrote further on the impact of this decision, "In reaching our conclusion about what the law demands of us today, we do not pretend to foretell the future and we proceed well aware of the potential for cost and conflict around jurisdictional boundaries, especially ones that have gone unappreciated for so long. But it is unclear why pessimism should rule the day. With the passage of time, Oklahoma and its Tribes have proven they can work successfully together as partners."

Minority Decision
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote a dissent which was joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh, as well as in part by Clarence Thomas. Roberts wrote that the majority decision "creates significant uncertainty for the State's continuing authority over any area that touches Indian affairs, ranging from zoning and taxation to family and environmental law." It was also emphasized that the Dawes Commission had established these ceded lands for natives with the intention to eliminate the reservation. These attempts were however merely that. The Creek refused to give up their land at the time these attempts were made once the Dawes Commission was put into place.**https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/18-9526_9okb.pdf **

End Results
The Court's judgment reversed McGirt's denial for relief by the Oklahoma criminal court, which withdrew the state convictions. This then required a retrial by a federal court. This retrial was scheduled for October 6th, 2020 in Muskogee federal court. Starting from the decision made in his Supreme Court case, McGirt was kept in jail for the duration until his federal trial as decided by a judge. This federal trial however did not occur until November 5th. In this retrial, McGirt's victim, the grand-daughter of his wife at the time of the incidents, recounted her accounts of the incidents. Now 28 years old, she mentioned that she had some difficulty recalling the events from when she was merely four years old. She did however tell the parts she could remember. The retrial was then set to continue the following day. After 3 days of testimonies, McGirt was found guilty again of sexually abusing his wife's grand-daughter. copied from McGirt v. Oklahoma

Native Territorial Changes Since McGirt v. Oklahoma
Since the case of McGirt v. Oklahoma, there have been multiple cases to recognize the other native tribes rather than just stopping at the recognition of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

"Five Civilized Tribes" Now Recognized

 * Muscogee (Creek) Nation: This is the largest of the federally recognized Muscogee tribes. They are headquartered in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Their jurisdiction is in Creek, Hughes, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, McIntosh, Muskogee, Tulsa, and Wagoner counties. The Muscogee are a unified nation of multiple tribes.
 * Cherokee Nation: This nation is federally recognized. They are considered sovereign land.
 * Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma: Their tribal jurisdiction consists of eight Oklahoman counties among 12 tribal districts. Their headquarters are in Durant, Oklahoma. They function with their own government with Judicial, Legislative, and Executive branches.
 * Chickasaw Nation: This is also a three-branched self-governed native nation. Their jurisdiction takes up Byran, Carter, Coal, Garvin, Grady, Jefferson, Johnston, Love, McClain, Marshall, Murray, Pontotoc, and Stephens counties.
 * Seminole Nation of Oklahoma: This nation is predominantly in Oklahoma and made up of three tribes. Their tribal complex can be found in Wewoka, Oklahoma.