Stitt seeks negotiations with tribal leaders

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has reached out to leaders of the Five Tribes of Oklahoma to begin formal negotiations related to last year’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling on tribal sovereignty. Stitt said in a statement on Friday that he will welcome the leaders of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek,) and Seminole nations to begin discussions.

Last year’s ruling, known as the McGirt decision, determined that a wide swathe of eastern Oklahoma remains a Muscogee (Creek) reservation. As a result, the tribes and federal government, not the state, have criminal jurisdiction in cases involving tribal citizens on reservation lands.