Native American Rights

Native Americans in Oklahoma won the right to assert jurisdiction over some criminal activity on their reservations after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that the federal government must honor promises in 19th century treaties with tribes, a decision some say could potentially give tribes more sovereignty over their ancestral lands. The ruling has heightened a controversy over how to make reparations to nearly 10 million Native Americans, whose ancestors suffered injustices that cost them millions of acres of tribal lands and restricted their ability to conserve resources and provide for their members. Tribes are disproportionately affected by extreme weather exacerbated by climate change. Native leaders also want the courts or Congress to fix the jurisdictional morass that results in Native American women suffering from the nation's highest rates of violent crimes, often committed by non-Natives. Such issues have spurred a Land Back movement, with many of the 575 tribes seeking to regain ancestral lands. But state officials and non-Native businesses, property owners and others fear losing access to revenues and natural resources and want to ensure that their rights are protected.