Muscogee Creek Nation sues Tulsa over traffic offenses
(MUSCOGEE NATION) The Muscogee Creek Nation is suing the City of Tulsa, Mayor G.T. Bynum, Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin, and city attorney Jack Blair for unlawfully continuing to “prosecute Indians for conduct arising within the Creek Reservation”.
The suit, filed in federal court on November 15, states the Nation doesn’t receive referrals from the City of Tulsa for Indian traffic offenses within the Muscogee Creek Nation Reservation and instead prosecutes them itself, despite lacking jurisdiction to do so and referring other criminal matters involving Indian defendants to the Nation.
“Our Nation has always been a leader in the fight to defend tribal sovereignty,” Principal Chief David Hill said in a statement. “We continue to welcome government-to-government cooperation with the City of Tulsa. But we will not stand by and watch the City disregard our sovereignty and our own laws by requiring Muscogee and other tribal citizens to respond to citations in Tulsa city court because of the City’s make-believe legal theories.”
The latest lawsuit is related to an ongoing legal battle tied to the Tulsa traffic ticket case Hooper v. Tulsa, regarding Choctaw citizen Justin Hooper’s application for post-conviction relief over a $150 traffic ticket. Following the McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling that only the tribes and federal government have jurisdiction over tribal citizens, Hooper contended the city lacked the jurisdiction to issue him the ticket.
“It is bad for everyone involved for us to continue relying on litigation to clear up these issues,” Bynum said earlier this summer. “All of this will be cleared up over time, but the sooner it is the sooner we can all be working together. And I am confident that when the tribal nations, Oklahoma, and Tulsa are all working together no one can stop us.”
After Tulsa’s district court ruled against Justin Hooper in the case, it was appealed in the Tenth Circuit of Appeals. That court unanimously agreed the City of Tulsa lost jurisdiction over American Indians within Indian country after Oklahoma became a state in 1907.
The City of Tulsa then filed a stay with the Supreme Court until a Petition for Writ of Certiorari could be filed and decided.
In August, the Supreme Court denied the stay but decided the City of Tulsa could still prosecute American Indians as the matter continues to be litigated.
Hooper is now in federal district court, with a status conference scheduled for December 4th.
Hill echoes Bynum’s sentiment that litigation is not the ideal way to resolve these issues but said “the city cannot reasonably expect the Nation to stay on the sidelines while Tulsa attacks its sovereignty within the Nation’s Reservation in cases to which the Nation is not even a party”.
Muscogee Creek Nation Attorney General Geri Wisner said the Nation filed this suit because the City of Tulsa is willingly and knowingly violating federal law.
“There is no legal basis for current city policies dealing with citizens of tribal nations and we are asking the court to require the city to follow the law,” Wisner said.
City of Tulsa spokesperson Michelle Brooks said Bynum is eager to work with tribal partners to resolve these issues and render litigation unnecessary, as the mayor stated two weeks ago in his State of the City address.
“This latest lawsuit is a duplication of several lawsuits that are already pending in state and federal courts to decide these issues,” Brooks said. “As such, the City of Tulsa has no further comment at this time.
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