The Indian Law Bombshell: McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020)

In McGirt v. Oklahoma , the US Supreme Court held in a 5-4 decision that the 1866 Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation still exists. Thus, one million Oklahomans found out that they live on the 3,250,000-acre Creek Nation reservation, including 400,000 people in the City of Tulsa. The Court partially relied on a long-standing Supreme Court test to determine whether the Creek Reservation had been diminished or disestablished by Acts of Congress in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Justice Gorsuch, writing for the majority, held that Congress never expressly stated an intention to diminish or disestablish the reservation. Consequently, under Supreme Court precedent, the reservation borders are still in place today and the entire 3,250,000 acre reservation is "Indian Country," under 18 U.S.C. sec. 1151(a). In this talk at the April 2024 meeting of the American Philosophical Society, Professor Miller explains the Court's analysis and briefly forecasts the significant ramifications that will ensue for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Oklahoma, and the United States. In fact, McGirt has already created political, legal, and societal changes for the Creek Nation and Oklahoma. The case also portends substantial adjustments in many different areas of law, politics, governance, life, and business in the decades ahead for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, for Oklahoma, for other states and Indian nations, and for the United States. As one example of these changes, Oklahoma will now have to deal with the issue of Muscogee (Creek) Nation jurisdiction over an enormously larger expanse of land and population than had been previously assumed.