Jan. 16—A federal judge has extended a stay in a federal lawsuit filed by an Eastern Oklahoma Tribal Nation against the City of Tulsa over the jurisdiction to ticket Native Americans to allow settlement discussions to continue.
The Muscogee (Creek) Nation filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Oklahoma in November 2023 claiming the city of Tulsa “is deliberately and unlawfully prosecuting tribal citizens for conduct occurring within the Nation’s Reservation boundaries despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma.”
Tulsa maintains it has the authority to prosecute municipal violations committed by Native Americans through Section 14 of the Curtis Act, a law from 1898 that predates Oklahoma’s statehood despite the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruling in Hooper v. Tulsa the city does not have the authority.
Attorneys for both sides filed a joint motion to stay proceedings stating the parties have “recently engaged in active settlement discussions in an effort to resolve this matter by agreement between the parties.”
U.S. District Judge John D. Russell originally granted the stay to last until Jan. 17, 2025. A new order filed Wednesday states the stay will now be in effect through March 18, 2025.
Tulsa asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed because the case interferes with “pending Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals proceedings where a decision is imminent” and gave three examples of cases currently pending with OCCA.
One such case involves Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s brother, Marvin Stitt, who was ticketed for aggravated speeding in 2021 by the Tulsa Police Department. Similar to Hooper, a municipal judge denied the motion to dismiss the speeding ticket with attorneys filing an appeal with OCCA that is now awaiting decision.
“This Court should dismiss the claims and requested relief against all parties under the abstention and Colorado River doctrines because there are presently numerous other lawsuits pending on this same question that could render this case moot once decided,” Tulsa argues. “In the alternative, this case should be stayed pending the OCCA’s decision in Stitt which would be instructive, if not decisive on this case.”
The tribal nation said in a statement after the filing it agreed with Tulsa’s now former Mayor G.T. Bynum’s statement made during his State of the City speech in November 2023 saying litigation was not the preferable means to resolve the issues.
“The Nation fully agrees; however, Tulsa is presently asserting criminal jurisdiction over individual Indians in the state and municipal courts, and aggressively so, notwithstanding clear and binding precedent against its practices,” the tribal nation states. “Tulsa cannot reasonably expect the Nation to stay on the sidelines while Tulsa attacks its sovereignty within the Nation’s Reservation in cases to which the Nation is not even a party.”
Tulsa’s new mayor Monroe Nichols and his administration are making efforts to conduct good-faith negotiations with the city’s tribal nations.
“The City of Tulsa and our tribal partners have been meeting frequently since I took office earlier this month, and our respective teams are working together on a path forward,” Nichols said in a statement to KOSU in December. “The City of Tulsa remains committed to co-governing with the Cherokee, Muscogee Creek, and Osage nations to create a strong direction for our governments and Tulsa collectively.”