tribal rights

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has appointed a special prosecutor to go after Indigenous hunters who are cited for hunting without a state license on tribal reservations.

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether to take up an Oklahoma tax case involving Muscogee Nation citizen Alicia Stroble. Now the five largest tribes in the state are weighing in, hoping SCOTUS will overturn the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision that ruled Stroble is not exempt from paying state income tax.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has interceded in a case to drop charges against a Choctaw Nation citizen accused of hunting on a tribal reservation without a state permit.

Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation shared a press release on Wednesday, drawing disapproval from several tribal leaders of the five largest tribes in Oklahoma and tribal lawyers. It highlighted a gray area of where tribal citizens can hunt and fish with tribally issued licenses.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case involving Gov. Kevin Stitt's brother, Marvin Keith Stitt, who is also a Cherokee Nation citizen. The case questioned a state's criminal jurisdictional authority over tribal citizens on tribal land absent Congressional authorization.

Gov. Kevin Stitt is suing the City of Tulsa, its mayor and its police chief in the Oklahoma Supreme Court over a recent agreement the city made to defer criminal jurisdiction to the Muscogee Nation.

Five years after a landmark ruling that found much of eastern Oklahoma is Indian Country, tribal nations are still fighting with towns over who has jurisdiction to prosecute traffic violations and other municipal charges.

Alicia Stroble sat before the Oklahoma Supreme Court more than a year ago, surrounded by tribal attorneys and backed by the state's five major tribes.

A Muscogee citizen who works for her tribe and lives on its reservation still must pay income tax to Oklahoma, despite her tribal nation's redefinition as Indian Country after the McGirt case.

Lawmakers in the Joint State-Tribal Relations Committee approved a $100,000 injection into the state District Attorneys Council last week. It's to help two local state prosecutors fight an ongoing legal battle against the Department of Justice and two Indigenous nations.