The 2022 Supreme Court ruling on Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta granted the state of Oklahoma the power to prosecute non-Indians who commit felony crimes against tribal citizens on reservation land.
It comes just two years after a landmark decision inMcGirt v. Oklahoma, which resulted in 40% of eastern Oklahoma being affirmed as reservation land, thereby expanding tribal jurisdiction over criminal cases there. Tribes and tribal law experts see the Castro-Huerta ruling as an alarming turn in the Court’s treatment of Indian law and tribal affairs.
We speak with Allison Herrera, reporter on Indigenous Affairs at KOSU in Oklahoma and correspondent for Newsy, and Dr. Matthew Fletcher, Harry Burns Hutchins Collegiate Professor of Law at University of Michigan Lawand a tribal judge.
