McGirt v. Oklahoma
My doctoral mentor, the magnificent John Wunder at at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has not only a Ph.D. in history, but also a J.D. in law. And so even though my own research under him centered on Native political history, you can bet I was given a reasonable dose of Indian legal history along the way. That being said, I graduated 20 years ago, I have not done much legal history research since then, and there are many people out there much better qualified than myself to explain the ins and outs of today’s historic United States Supreme Court decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma. Rather, just hours after the decision I would like to offer some context. The Supreme Court is no stranger of Indian law cases. It hears them regularly. However, McGirt is probably the most important federal case since Cobell v. Salazar, which was filed in 1996, never reached he Supreme Court, and was settled with the Obama administration in 2009. And McGirt is probably the most important Native lands case in at least half a century. But first things first. The real importance of this case has nothing to do with the plaintiff Jimcy McGirt, who was sentenced to 1000 (yes, a thousand) years for raping a four year old.
McGirt v. Oklahoma Read More »