{"id":23736,"date":"2022-05-02T00:02:51","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T04:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=23736"},"modified":"2022-05-03T14:15:53","modified_gmt":"2022-05-03T18:15:53","slug":"scotusblog-supreme-court-takes-up-indian-country-jurisdiction-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/05\/02\/scotusblog-supreme-court-takes-up-indian-country-jurisdiction-case\/","title":{"rendered":"SCOTUSblog: Supreme Court takes up Indian Country jurisdiction case"},"content":{"rendered":" \"John<\/a>
Chief Justice G. Roberts Jr. chokes up during remarks on the retirement of Justice Stephen G. Breyer at the close of the U.S. Supreme Court oral argument on April 27, 2022. Courtroom illustration by Art Lien \/ SCOTUSBlog<\/figcaption>\r\n
With historical promises in mind, justices weigh state criminal jurisdiction in Indian country<\/div>\r\n
Monday, May 2, 2022<\/div>\r\n
By Matthew L.M. Fletcher<\/div>\r\n
SCOTUSblog<\/div>\r\n
scotusblog.com<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAt the last Supreme Court oral argument of Justice Stephen Breyer\u2019s career, the court stepped into a dispute over the state of Oklahoma\u2019s criminal jurisdiction authority in Indian country. After nearly two hours of debate last Wednesday, four justices appeared strongly inclined to vote against Oklahoma, but the rest of the court did not seem so sure.

<\/P>\r\nOklahoma v. Castro-Huerta<\/a><\/em> involves the state\u2019s jurisdiction to prosecute a non-Indian defendant\u2019s criminal neglect of an Indian child with special needs inside of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma\u2019s reservation. The case comes on the heels of the court\u2019s monumental 2020 decision, McGirt v. Oklahoma<\/a><\/em>, which reaffirmed that the reservation of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation within Oklahoma remains \u201cIndian country.\u201d In Indian country, state criminal jurisdiction is limited to crimes involving non-Indians only. Oklahoma courts have extended the McGirt<\/em> holding to include other Indian reservations, including that of the Cherokee Nation. As a result, most of eastern Oklahoma is now understood to be Indian country \u2014 a development that, according to the state, has disrupted the criminal justice system there.

<\/P>\r\nCastro-Huerta<\/em>\u2019s legal issues are narrower than those in McGirt<\/em>. The case depends on whether the General Crimes Act<\/a> prohibits Oklahoma\u2019s prosecution of non-Indians who commit crimes against Indian victims in Indian country. Enacted in 1948, the GCA extended to Indian country the general federal criminal laws that apply in places where the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction (i.e., federal enclaves). The question is whether the GCA therefore prohibits concurrent state criminal prosecutions.

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