Sentenced to Death <\/strong><\/h2>\nSCOTUS first examined the issue in a separate case earlier this year, but was unable to reach a decision. In that case, (Sharp v. Murphy) Patrick Murphy — a Creek Nation citizen sentenced to death by the State of Oklahoma for the 1999 murder of a fellow enrolled citizen — argued that his sentence was invalid because the state had no right to try him.<\/p>\n
The new case concerns Creek Nation member Jimcy McGirt, who was convicted of raping a four-year old girl in the 1990s and sentenced to 500 years in prison.<\/p>\n
According to the state AG\u2019s Office, the question SCOTUS is being asked to answer is identical to that of the Murphy case.<\/p>\n
SCOTUS was deadlocked 4-4 on that decision after Justice Neil Gorsuch recused himself because the case had been referred from the 10th<\/sup> Circuit Court of Appeals, over which he previously presided. The McGirt case will be heard by a panel of nine judges.<\/p>\n\u2018Economic Chaos\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\nIn the Murphy case, Lisa Blatt, for the state, argued the Nation\u2019s authority had been eroded by the federal government by the time Oklahoma became a state in 1907.<\/p>\n
In 1887, the federal General Allotment Act split the reservation into 160-acre plots that were redistributed among tribal members. Then, in 1898, the Curtis Act stripped the tribe of almost all its sovereign powers.<\/p>\n
The formation of Oklahoma incorporated much of these tribal lands, and while the reservation was never officially disestablished, it had essentially been \u201cdissolved,\u201d Blatt argued.<\/p>\n
The state claims that recognizing historic territories as modern reservations would create economic and judicial chaos in the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case which could have far-reaching implications for tribal gaming in eastern Oklahoma. It could also create the largest tribal reservation in America, triggering a \u201cseismic shift in criminal and civil jurisdiction,\u201d according to the state, in an area that includes Tulsa and contains 1.8 million people. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":122393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,18456],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
SCOTUS Takes Up Case that Could Explode Tribal Gaming in Oklahoma<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n