On Wednesday, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation filed a complaint in a U.S. federal court against the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, alleging that the city has infringed upon tribal sovereignty by issuing traffic violation tickets to tribal members within the bounds of the reservation.
In their claim, the nation contends that the city does not possess the criminal jurisdiction necessary to prosecute Native Americans on tribal lands without express authorization from Congress. This is according to the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court case McGirt v. Oklahoma. The tribe mentioned a recent decision from an appellate court, which ruled the city of Tulsa did not have jurisdiction to prosecute a speeding ticket issued to a Choctaw tribal member on the Muscogee reservation. As one of Oklahoma’s largest cities, Tulsa is situated almost entirely within Native American reservations, which include Cherokee and Muscogee Nations’ territories.
The case is the latest installment in a series of legal disputes revolving around tribal sovereignty following the McGirt decision. The Supreme Court ruling found that the reservations of the so-called “Five-Civilized Tribes”, including the Creek Nation, had not been dissolved by Congress, despite Oklahoma gaining statehood in 1907. Consequently, much of eastern Oklahoma and the city of Tulsa remain Native American reservations, split between the Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole tribes.
Generally, prosecutions for crimes committed by Native Americans on reservations are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. and tribal governments. States can exert jurisdiction only if they can demonstrate that an exception to this rule has been expressly sanctioned by Congress. The Creek Nation asserts that in Hooper v. City of Tulsa, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the tribe on this very issue.
In a press release, Principle Chief David Hill of the Muscogee Nation stated: “Our Nation has always been a leader in the fight to defend tribal sovereignty. We continue to welcome government-to-government cooperation with the City of Tulsa. But we will not stand by and watch the City disregard our sovereignty and our own laws by requiring Muscogee and other tribal citizens to respond to citations in Tulsa city court.”
The nation’s traffic code mirrors that of Tulsa, and the Tribe engages in cross-deputization agreements to allow cooperation in the handling of illegal activity on the reservation. However, the city is accused of selectively participating in these agreements concerning traffic violations, while generally referring other criminal matters to the tribe.
The Muscogee Creek Tribe, originally hailing from an area bordering present-day Georgia and Alabama, were relocated to eastern Oklahoma following their military defeat and the Indian Removal Act of 1930. The Creek people ceded their traditional lands in exchange for “financial and material assistance” and a promise of protection by the U.S. Government on their new property.