Supreme Court Rules That About Half Of Oklahoma Is Native American Land

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that about half of the land in Oklahoma is within a Native American reservation as stated in treaties.

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that about half of the land in Oklahoma is within a Native American reservation as stated in treaties.

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that about half of the land in Oklahoma is within a Native American reservation, a decision that will have major consequences for both past and future criminal and civil cases.

The court's decision hinged on the question of whether the Creek reservation continued to exist after Oklahoma became a state.

Much of Tulsa, the state's second-largest city, is located on Muscogee (Creek) land.

"The Supreme Court today kept the United States' sacred promise to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of a protected reservation," the tribe said in a statement.

The first is that going forward, certain major crimes committed within the boundaries of reservations must be prosecuted in federal court rather than state court, if a Native American is involved.

So if a Native American is accused of a major crime in downtown Tulsa, the federal government rather than the state government will prosecute it.

Less serious crimes involving Native Americans on American Indian land will be handled in tribal courts.

Oklahoma, concerned Jimcy McGirt, an enrolled member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma who was convicted of sex crimes against a child on Creek land.

Circuit Court of Appeals, which frequently sees cases involving Native American lands