What Will Happen if the US Honored its Native Treaties

The Supreme Court of the United States handed down a significant ruling this week, redrawing the limits of the state. Most of the eastern part of Oklahoma, including Tulsa, is recognised as a member of the Oklahoma Indian Nation. Contrary to popular belief, treaty violations such as the one in Oklahoma are far from rare. 

Previous Treaties and Effects on the Nation’s Native Territory

Indigenous people have a more significant say in the building and maintenance of fuel infrastructure and what happens to Native children who are taken away from their parents. They would also be slightly likely to be tried in provincial courts by district attorneys who are hard on crime and hard to work with. Safety, Health care, and groundwork for obligations made by governments as part of the treaties were never carried out.

Native American Tribes must go to court to enforce their treaty obligations and rights in the modern world. Since the 1970s, Native American groups have stressed how important it is to keep treaty obligations. After last week’s McGirt Oklahoma ruling, Congress, the courts, and the administrative branch have been asked to take action. 

A CU law expert says that Native American groups don’t get anything new from this verdict, no matter how important it may be. Since the federal government has broken promises and rights it made in treaties since the agreements were made, tribes must do everything they can to make these promises and rights come true.

Oklahoma’s McGirt Effect

McGirt v. Oklahoma was focused on whether or not Seminole Jimcy McGirt performed his sexual offences on reserve property. It is impossible to hold trials in state courts for crimes like murder, abduction and sexual assault committed in “Indian Country,” prosecuted by the federal government. McGirt’s attorneys contend that he should not have been charged at the 1833 Creek Reservation in the first place since it never ceased being there.

Trump candidate Neil Gorsuch authored the majority opinion, demonstrating that the United States violated its treaties with the Muscogee people, sometimes known as the Creek, by early settlers. The US frequently coerced other nations to sign treaties by employing war or starvation. In the mid-to-late 1830s, individuals from the eastern Oklahoma tribes of the Cherokee, Seminole, Muscogee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw were forcibly relocated. Along the Trail of Tears, more than 3,000 Muscogee (Creek) people were slaughtered. The Creek people were ready and eager to leave their ancestral homelands in Alabama and Georgia in exchange for Native Nation territory  (West). They made this pledge to the United States.

In the words of Gorsuch, Congress has the constitutional authority to revoke treaties. Congress has regularly breached the Muscogee covenant. Execs and judges alike cannot violate a pact. This covers Oklahoma as well. The court notes that “no Congress Act has ever abolished the Creek Tribe. A national court will evaluate future cases and ideas similar to McGirt’s, and incarcerated individuals may opt to have their concerns tried a second time.

Environmental Consequences

The Clean Air Act, The Clean Water Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act are all legislation that the federal government enforces on “Indian property.” Federal approval is required for any alterations to the infrastructure, and the tribes should be contacted as needed. The EPA under Trump doesn’t care about the environment since it seldom respects laws. As a consequence, Oklahoma’s environmental legislation will be significantly altered. On their new reserve territory, the tribe may want ecological control.

The Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore:

The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 formed the Sioux Reservation. Sioux Nation members could opt to withdraw from the treaty if three-quarters of the adult male tribe members elected to separate Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills for their exclusive and peaceful use and ownership.

The events that followed were determined in 1980. Once gold was found on the reserve, the US military was called to keep the area safe. In 1875, President S. Grant discreetly aided the miners in gaining control of the country. Amid negotiations to legitimise the invasion, US Marines attacked indigenous people hunting in a treaty-authorized region. Following military warfare, the Oceti Sakowin people were forced to reside in a reserve where they had no access to crucial hunting parts. When the United States threatened to cut off all supplies, 10% of the tribe’s adult male members signed a new treaty and left the Black Hills location.

Conclusion

In the Court of Claims, a judge described it as “a ripe and filthy case of dishonest transactions.” The Great Sioux Nation received $106 million from the Supreme Court as a settlement for sacred land. They refused; they wanted back their land. 

Other tribal groups have a better record of winning border clashes. A well-known Connecticut University law professor, Bethany Berger, remarked, “The McGirt judgement ensures the Oneida reserve in Wisconsin stays intact.”