Intertribal Life Newspaper -

Chickasaw Nation-On July 9, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court held in McGirt v. Oklahoma that the Muscogee reservation remains part of Indian Country for purposes of criminal jurisdiction. In March, 2021, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals applied that ruling to the Chickasaw Nation.

As a result of these rulings, the Chickasaw Nation and federal governments have jurisdiction over crimes involving Native Americans throughout the whole Chickasaw Nation, and Oklahoma has jurisdiction over crimes only involving non-indigenous people in that same area. So the ruling expanded the geographic reach...