Muscogee Creek Nation

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and ACLU Oklahoma Executive Director Ryan Kiesel about the top picks by Governor-elect Kevin Stitt for his Chief of Staff as well as Secretaries of State and Energy, Oklahoma owes the state's colleges and universities $150M in matching funds for faculty salaries and the incoming leader of the Senate files the first bill to conduct performance evaluations of state agencies.

The Supreme Court hears a capital case where it will have to decide whether nearly half of Oklahoma, a massive area including much of Tulsa, is an Indian reservation.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: Today the Supreme Court heard arguments over whether the entire eastern half of Oklahoma should be considered an Indian reservation. A case that began with a murder could end up having broad implications for everyone who lives in that part of the state, Native American or not. NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports.

Oklahoma state attorneys warned of an ominous legal decision that could upend the jurisprudence around Native sovereignty in the United States.

“Oklahoma stands on the brink of the most radical jurisdictional shift since statehood,” state attorneys wrote in a Supreme Court brief filed last month. This week, the highest court agreed to hear the case in question, "Royal v. Murphy."