New Oklahoma AG asks SCOTUS to overturn major tribal ruling

Oklahoma AG John O'Connor

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s new attorney general is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its own historic ruling on tribal sovereignty. In a petition with the high court on Friday, Attorney General John O’Connor says the high court’s 5-4 decision last year was wrongly decided and has led to a “criminal-justice crisis.”

The AG’s petition comes one day after an Oklahoma death row inmate, whose challenge led to the ruling, was reconvicted in federal court for murder and kidnapping.

O’Connor argues that the ruling has led to thousands of state prisoners challenging decades’ worth of convictions, many of which can’t be prosecuted again.