The City of Tulsa cited and convicted a tribal Indian for a Traffic Code violation within city limits. Well! Remember in McGirt the U.S. Supreme Court basically said Eastern Oklahoma is Indian Country? Our municipal defendant sued to have his traffic ticket conviction set aside on the ground that the State of Oklahoma has no jurisdiction to prosecute an Indian for an offense committed in Indian Country. His case hasn't been fully adjudicated yet but it appears that the jurisdictional principal will be upheld. All traffic violations by tribal members will have to go before a federal magistrate! I LOVE it!
Incidentally, I'm using the term "Indian" because that's the legal term of art not because I think the word to be in any way appropriate. Around here we usually use the common tribal names rather than "Indian" or "Native American" because which tribe often matters. Of course, those tribe names are bogus as well but everyone knows who we're discussing.
I read an article about it. Here's my conclusion after reading it. The law can sometimes be weird and surprising.
The very definition of "Indian Country" is weird and surprising. If you know anything about the 250 year history of Indian Law this decision actually makes a kind of sense but a consequence might be that no Court can hear Municipal Code violations by tribal members in Tulsa.
Here in California the tribes can have casinos on their land. I understand that some small tribes with casinos are busy kicking tribe members out of the tribe to reduce the splits of the pie and being very arbitrary, blatant and unfair about it. There is apparently no recourse in the courts for the folks getting booted out. It's just tribe business outside the law. But then if a tribe member murders another tribe member, I think the law can get involved. That too seems a bit weird and surprising to me.
That sounds SO much like the Vegas Mob in the 50s. At least, the book and movie version of the Mob. Suggest a Federal order to annul the Tribes' Library cards and Netflix subscriptions. Just about the only Native rights that haven't already been abridged at some point.
