Cherokee Nation Attorney General Sara Hill addresses the media on April 6, 2021, following a court ruling that affirmed the continued existence of the Cherokee Reservation in Oklahoma.
The ruling in Spears v. State of Oklahoma means that the state of Oklahoma cannot prosecute Indians for most types of crimes on the Cherokee Reservation. The decision was issued by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on April 1 but the tribe has been preparing long before that, Hill said.
"I'm sure the ruling has created these jurisdictional challenges that we are having to face in Oklahoma," Hill said during a virtual press conference. Speaking for the Cherokee Nation, I can assure you that we take this responsibility extremely seriously, and that this is something that we have been working on for a long time."
Hill tied the latest legal development to the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma. She said the decision, which was issued in July 2020 and applied to the reservation of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, confirmed that tribal treaties matter.
"The acknowledgement of those treaties, it was long overdue," Hill said of a case that was closely followed by the Cherokee Nation, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the Chickasaw Nation, the Choctaw Nation and the Seminole Nation.
"That makes McGirt an important case for not just for the Creek Nation and for the five tribes, but really for all of Indian Country," Hill said.
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Decision on Cherokee Nation Reservation (Turtle Talk)
https://turtletalk.blog/2021/04/05/oklahoma-court-of-criminal-appeals-decision-on-cherokee-nation-reservation/
Cover photo of Sara Hill courtesy Cherokee Nation
