The Supreme Court has temporarily stayed a federal appeals court decision that deprived an Oklahoma city of the authority to charge members of Indian tribes with traffic offenses while it considers reviewing that court’s ruling.
Although the offense at issue in the case is minor, if the Supreme Court agrees to review the lower court ruling, larger ramifications for law enforcement in Oklahoma could follow.
The weeklong stay in City of Tulsa v. Hooper (court file 23A73) came in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark 2020 ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma, which stripped Oklahoma courts of the ability to hear criminal cases against Native Americans for crimes taking place on Indian lands.
In the McGirt decision, the Supreme Court ruled that most of eastern Oklahoma and some of the central part of the state was Indian country because it hosted Indian reservations. This meant prosecution of Native Americans on these lands may only be pursued in tribal courts or in federal courts under a federal statute from 1885 called the Major Crimes Act, which gave federal courts exclusive criminal jurisdiction in cases of murder, assault causing bodily injury, and most sexual offenses.
Another court clarified that the reservations belonged to the so-called Five Civilized Tribes—Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek (Muscogee), and Seminole.
Legal observers say the Supreme Court’s ruling has made law enforcement in the state chaotic at times.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion in McGirt, which was joined by the four liberal justices at the time. The four conservative justices dissented from the majority decision.
The Supreme Court’s stay came after the court favored Native Americans by upholding by 7–2 a racially discriminatory adoption law aimed at preventing non-Indian families from adopting Native American children. The June 15 decision in Haaland v. Brackeen affirmed the Indian Child Welfare Act, which was enacted by Congress in 1978 to prevent non-Indian families from adopting Native American children. The statute was a reaction to perceived historical injustices and concerns that Indian children were being removed from their traditional homes and Indian culture and placed in homes that had no connection to their culture.
Late on July 26, Justice Gorsuch, who oversees emergency appeals from Oklahoma, stayed a ruling in the new case by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit until 5 p.m. on Aug. 2. He also ordered that a response to the application must be filed with the court by July 31 at 12 noon. The order did not explain why the justice issued the order.
In the case at hand, Justin Hooper, a member of the Choctaw Nation, was ticketed for speeding in 2018, a violation of Tulsa’s municipal code. The municipal court convicted Mr. Hooper and fined him $150, which he paid.
But later, after the McGirt decision was issued, Mr. Hooper sought post-conviction relief, arguing that the city did not have jurisdiction to prosecute him for running afoul of its local traffic code.
The municipal court denied his application for relief, and then he filed a lawsuit in federal court. The city asked the court to dismiss the case, saying that Tulsa had jurisdiction over the case. That court agreed with the city and dismissed Mr. Hooper’s appeal.
Then, on June 28, the 10th Circuit overturned the lower court’s ruling, depriving Tulsa of the power to ticket tribal members.
The appeals court expanded the scope of the McGirt decision, which held, among other things, that tribal citizens could not be prosecuted for major crimes committed on the Muscogee Nation reservation because Congress had not taken steps to dissolve the reservation.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, criticized the 10th Circuit’s decision at the time.
“Citizens of Tulsa, if your city government cannot enforce something as simple as a traffic violation, there will be no rule of law in eastern Oklahoma. This is just the beginning. It is plain and simple; there cannot be a different set of rules for people solely based on race,” the governor said.
But on July 27, Mr. Stitt praised the Supreme Court for ruling in favor of Tulsa.
“I am encouraged that the United States Supreme Court delayed the implementation of the 10th Circuit’s devastating decision in Hooper v. City of Tulsa. If the Hooper decision stands, the City of Tulsa, using their own words to the Supreme Court, ‘...will no longer be able to enforce violations of municipal ordinances against Indian inhabitants,’” the governor said in a statement.
“We must operate under one set of rules, regardless of race, heritage, or background, and cannot allow Tulsa and much of the rest of eastern Oklahoma to be turned into a reservation.”
The Epoch Times reached out for comment to Mr. Hooper’s attorney, Tulsa lawyer John M. Dunn, but had not received a reply as of press time.
A Tulsa official refused to comment.
“The City of Tulsa does not have a statement at this time,” Michelle Brooks, director of communications in the Office of the Mayor, said by email.
The Supreme Court may decide whether to formally review the case next week.
