THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL 42 | NOVEMBER 2022 jurisdiction over Indians for ordinance violations if they may lawfully assume such jurisdiction pursuant to an act of Congress.22 Many municipalities responded to McGirt by taking the position that §14 of the Curtis Act of 1898 authorizes their courts to lawfully assume jurisdiction over those ordinance violations. Section 14 provided, “All inhabitants of such cities and towns, without regard to race, shall be subject to all laws and ordinances of such city or town governments[.]”23 The Curtis Act was a comprehensive and special statute governing matters throughout Indian Territory.24 As to the reference to “race,” one year earlier, a Congressional enactment had applied the local, territorial laws in effect within the Indian Territory “to all persons therein, irrespective of race[.]”25 The Supreme Court interpreted that language as expressing Congress’s clear intent to apply those laws to Indians as well as non-Indians.26 Section 14 expressed Congress’s clear intent to subject Indians to municipal ordinances. While §14 was adopted prior to Oklahoma becoming a state, Congress clearly intended that §14 would continue to authorize municipalities within the reservations of the Five Civilized Tribes to lawfully assume jurisdiction over Indians for ordinance violations post-statehood. In enacting §14, Congress was expressly contemplating that the lands of the Five Civilized Tribes would be included within a future state. Section 29 of the Curtis Act contained Congress’s approval of an allotment agreement with the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations. Within that agreement, Congress agreed to allow those two nations to maintain their governments for eight more years with the following understanding: “This stipulation is made in the belief that the tribal governments so modified will prove so satisfactory that there will be no need or desire for further change till the lands now occupied by the Five Civilized Tribes shall, in the opinion of Congress, be prepared for admission as a State to the Union.”27 Congress’s intent to retain the authorization in §14 in full force and effect is further evidenced by the fact that every allotment agreement approved by the tribes on or after the date the Curtis Act was adopted included express language whereby the tribes expressly agreed that §14 would remain in full force and effect within their lands.28 The authority for cities and towns within the reservations of the Five Civilized Tribes to lawfully assume jurisdiction over ordinance violations by Indians is thus founded both on §14 of the Curtis Act itself as well as the consent to §14 by the tribes evidenced in those agreements with the United States. Sections 13 and 21 of the Oklahoma Enabling Act29 replaced the existing territorial laws with the first set of local state laws applicable in the new state of Oklahoma. This shift in applicable local laws did not affect §14 of the Curtis Act. When Congress adopted local, territorial laws and, later, when it admitted the Oklahoma and Indian territories as a new state and established the first set of local state laws, Congress exercised authority granted to it by Article IV, Section 3, of the United States Constitution.30 Those territorial laws were not laws of the United States but rather local laws, applicable only within the territory.31 By contrast, when Congress applied those territorial laws to Indians and subjected Indians to ordinances adopted by cities and towns within the borders of the Five Civilized Tribes, Congress exercised authority granted to it by Article I, Section 8, of the United States Constitution. Sections 13 and 21 in the Enabling Act affected only the local territorial laws. Congress was merging two territories with two distinct sets of local territorial laws into one state. As such, pursuant to Article IV, Congress had to designate which body of local laws would be the first set of state laws.32 The relevant provision from §14 was not a local law applicable in the Indian territory. It was an It is important to note, in closing, that the appellate courts have yet to resolve the question of whether §14 continues to grant municipalities within the reservations of the Five Civilized Tribes the authority to lawfully assume jurisdiction over ordinance violations by Indians.
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