In Oklahoma tribal decision, ‘rule of the strong’ falls to rule of law

When he started to read the latest landmark American Indian law ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, Joel Williams needed a few minutes just to get past the first sentence.

“On the far end of the Trail of Tears was a promise,” opened Justice Neil Gorsuch for the majority opinion in McGirt v. Oklahoma, referencing the forced removal, beginning in the 1830s, of Native American tribes from their historical lands in today’s U.S. Southeast to west of the Mississippi River. Estimates vary, but thousands are believed to have died on the roughly 5,000-mile journey, including as many as one-fourth of the Cherokee Nation.

Mr. Williams, a senior staff attorney at the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), is a member of the Cherokee Nation and a descendant of the Cherokees who negotiated treaties with the federal government. Seeing those treaties, promising them a “permanent home” in the West, referenced throughout the opinion was “quite striking”…

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