A large area in eastern Oklahoma may be subject to a “surge” in nonviolent crimes because federal prosecutors cannot maintain rising caseloads caused by the consequential 2020 Supreme Court decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma, the Justice Department warned.
“As enforcement of non-violent crime is relatively low, Oklahoma communities may see a surge in such crimes, and many people may not be held accountable for their criminal conduct due to resource constraints,” the department told Congress in recent budget submissions for fiscal 2023.
Oklahoma @govstitt said there is a need to “protect” Native American victims of crime as the case was heard by the Supreme Court.
.@Kaelandc reports.https://t.co/hqkbgotKr6 pic.twitter.com/spsipAqPrv— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 29, 2022
The department is seeking to hire more U.S. attorneys, FBI agents, federal marshals, and additional staff to help with growing caseloads following the decision in McGirt two years ago, which affirmed sovereignty in tribal reservations and voided the state’s criminal jurisdiction in a significant portion of the eastern part of the state when a case involves a member of a federally recognized tribe.
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“Since the Federal court ruling in the McGirt case, the FBI’s Oklahoma City field office has managed thousands of Indian Country cases, whereas previously the field office investigated approximately 50 criminal cases a year involving Native Americans,” the DOJ told Congress.
Tribes have doled out tens of millions of dollars in the past two years to hire prosecutors, police officers, and other necessary personnel to handle the thousands of new cases piling up since the McGirt decision.
“These investments are paying off in arrests, charges, and successful prosecutions,” the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole nations told justices in a criminal jurisdiction case now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Despite the efforts by the tribes, the DOJ’s budget submission requested $18 million next year to add 76 new FBI positions in the state. Additionally, the U.S. Marshals Service is requesting $14 million for 56 new positions, while the Bureau of Prisons is requesting $33 million.
Although the 2020 decision resulted in a massive surge of new appeals, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled last year that the McGirt decision was not retroactive and relieved some of the pressure for the state’s criminal justice system.
The case Castro-Huerta v. Oklahoma will be presented before the justices this week and seeks to answer whether “a State has authority to prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes against Indians in Indian country.”
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Gov. Kevin Stitt and state Attorney General John O’Connor previously sought to overturn or limit McGirt, though the high court reaffirmed the 2020 decision as the state has sought to clarify its authority when prosecuting nontribal members on reservation land, which now makes up more than 40% of the state’s territory.
I’ve been saying this from the beginning,” Stitt tweeted Monday in response to the DOJ’s request to Congress. “Criminals are going unpunished in Oklahoma. We need one set of rules and equal protection under the law.”
