Opinion of the Court In McGirt v. Oklahoma
Much of Eastern Oklahoma Is a Creek Indian Reservation
On the far end of the Trail of Tears was a promise. Forced to leave their ancestral lands in Georgia and Alabama, the Creek Nation received assurances that their new lands in the West would be secure forever.
In exchange for ceding “all their land, East of the Mississippi River,” the U.S. government agreed by treaty that “the Creek country west of the Mississippi shall be solemnly guarantied to the Creek Indians.” — Treaty With the Creeks (1832). Both parties settled on boundary lines for a new and “permanent home to the whole Creek nation,” located in what is now Oklahoma. The government further promised that “[no] state or territory [shall] ever have a right to pass laws for the government of such Indians, but they shall be allowed to govern themselves.” …
