New Oklahoma AG asks SCOTUS to overturn major tribal ruling
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma's new attorney general asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to overturn it's own historic ruling on tribal sovereignty, saying the high court's 5-4 decision last year was wrongly decided and has led to a “criminal-justice crisis."
Attorney General John O'Connor filed the petition with the high court one day after an Oklahoma death row inmate whose challenge led to the ruling, later dubbed McGirt, was reconvicted in federal court for murder and kidnapping.
O'Connor argues the ruling has led to thousands of state prisoners challenging decades' worth of convictions, many of which can't be prosecuted again.
“The decision in McGirt now drives thousands of crime victims to seek justice from federal and tribal prosecutors whose offices are not equipped to handle those demands," the petition states. “Numerous crimes are going uninvestigated and unprosecuted, endangering public safety."
The petition also asks the Supreme Court to consider narrowing the application of its decision by allowing violent felons convicted before the ruling to remain in state prisons. It also asks the court to grant the state the authority to prosecute non-Native Americans who commit crimes against tribal citizens on reservation land.
Attorneys for the some of the tribes have argued the state's dire warnings are overblown and that federal and tribal courts are working to handle the additional caseload.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. accused O'Connor and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, himself a Cherokee Nation citizen, of advancing an “anti-Indian political agenda."
“The governor has never attempted to cooperate with the tribes to protect all Oklahomans," Hoskin said in a statement. “It is perfectly clear that it has always been his intent to destroy...