APRIL 2024 | 13 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL Indian Offenses,” U.S. Department of Interior, at www.bia.gov/CFRCourts (last visited Jan. 8, 2024). 8. The “CFR Courts” are considered “legislative courts” as described by Justice John Marshall in American Ins. Co. v. 356 Bales of Cotton (Canter), 26 U.S. (1 Pet.) 511, 546 (1828). 9. Chadwick Smith and Stephanie Birdwell, Cherokee Courts: A Historical and Modern Perspective 17 (1993). 10. 435 U.S. 191, 211-12 (1978). 11. See generally, L. Susan Work, The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma: A Legal History 3 (University of Oklahoma Press, 2010). 12. See Stacy L. Leeds, “Defeat or Mixed Blessing? Tribal Sovereignty and the State of Sequoyah,” 43 Tulsa L. Rev. 5, 5 n.2 (2007) (using “Five Tribes” to refer to the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole nations). 13. Choctaw Nation v. Oklahoma, 397 U.S. 620, 625 (1970) (the court paid particular attention to the unique history of the Five Civilized Tribes, especially the provisions of their treaties, including the treaty with the Choctaw, Sept. 27, 1830, 7 Stat. 333-34, which noted “no part of the land granted to them shall ever be embraced in any Territory or State.” See id. at 625. In Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544 (1981), the court noted the “special historical origins of the Choctaw and Cherokee treaties” that gave those tribes greater property rights than those of other tribes. See id. at 555). 14. See discussion in Muscogee (Creek) Nation v. Hodel, 851 F.2d 1439 (1989). 15. See Daniel L. Lowery, “Developing a Tribal Common Law Jurisprudence: The Navajo Experience,” 1969-1992, 18 Am. Indian L. Rev. 379, 381-87 (1993). 16. See Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law, (Nell Jessup Newton et al. eds., 2012), §4.01[1] [a] (remarking that most tribes had informal legal systems prior to contact with European nations). 17. See, e.g., Rennard Strickland, Fire and the Spirits: Cherokee Law from Clan to Court, (1975). 18. See generally, The Constitution and Laws of the Cherokee Nation: Passed at Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation, 1839-51, at 21-26 (1852). 19. Bethany R. Berger, “Power over this Unfortunate Race: Race, Politics and Indian Law in United States v. Rogers,” 45 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1957 (April 2004). 20. See generally John Howard Payne, Indian Justice (Grant Foreman ed., Univ. of Okla. Press 2002) (A 1840 Cherokee murder trial in Tahlequah of Archilla Smith for the slaying of John McIntosh with a knife at Tahlequah.). 21. 25 CFR §§416, et seq. 22. 25 CFR §503. 23. 42 U.S.C. §136. 24. 42 U.S.C. §305. 25. 25 CFR §11. 26. See Public Law 93-638; Title 25 U.S.C. §450, et seq. 27. Justin B. Richland, 2008. Arguing with Tradition: The Language of Law in Hopi Tribal Court; Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. 28. Judge Joseph A. Wapner (1919-2017), a former California Superior Court judge, was the first presiding judge of the reality court television show The People’s Court from 1981 to 1983. 29. Rain Man, United Artists, 1988. 30. Whitehorn v. Whitehorn, 170 Okl. 152, 36 P. 2d 943 (1934); Le Clair v. Calls Him, 106 Okl. 247, 233 P. 1087 (1925), (upholding district court’s order setting aside divorce decree). 31. The statutes that provided for allotment of tribal lands did not disestablish the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation. See also Murphy v. Royal, 875 F.3d 896 (10th Cir. 2017) for a review of the allotment legislation. 32. See McGirt v. Oklahoma, 591 U.S. _ (2020) (Muscogee (Creek) Nation); Bosse v. State, 2021 OK CR 30, 499 P.3d 771, cert. denied, 212 L. Ed. 2d 23, 142 S. Ct. 1136 (2022) (Chickasaw Nation); Hogner v. State, 2021 OK CR 4, 500 P.3d 629 (Cherokee Nation); Sizemore v. State, 2021 OK CR 6, 485 P.3d 867, cert. denied, 211 L. Ed. 2d 618, 142 S. Ct. 935 (2022) (Choctaw Nation); Grayson v. State, 2021 OK CR 8, 485 P.3d 250, cert. denied, 211 L. Ed. 2d 618, 142 S. Ct. 934 (2022) (Seminole Nation); State v. Lawhorn, 2021 OK CR 37, 499 P.3d 777 (Quapaw Nation); State v. Brester, 2023 OK CR 10, 531 P.3d 125 (Ottawa Nation, Peoria Nation and Miami Tribe of Oklahoma). 33. United States v. Littlechief, 573 P.2dd 264 (1977). 34. In 1880, at the end of the “Indian Wars,” the United States government created five original Indian boarding schools across the country (Carlisle, Haskell, Fort Simcoe, Chemawa and Chilocco). In 1882, Congress authorized an Indian school to be built in the Cherokee outlet near the southern boundary of Kansas and near the Ponca and Pawnee reservations (now Kay County). 22 Stat. 68, 85, ch. 163. Thereafter, on July 12, 1884, President Chester A. Arthur issued an executive order setting aside land for the Chilocco Indian Reserve. The school closed in 1980, and in a 1986 Act of Congress, the Kaw, Otoe-Missouria, Pawnee, Ponca and Tonkawa were given part of the school grounds as the “Council of Confederated Chilocco Tribes.” 35. C.M.G. v. State, 594 P.2d 798 (Okla. Crim. App.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 992 (1979). 36. 25 USC §1903 (tribal court means a court with jurisdiction over child custody proceedings and that is either a Court of Indian Offenses, a court established and operated under the code or custom of an Indian tribe or any other administrative body of a tribe vested with authority over child custody proceedings). 37. 25 C.F.R. §11.100, et seq. 38. Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, 25 U.S.C. §§1301-1303. 39. George Copway, Indian Life and History, 1858, Boston, Albert Colby and Company; p.141. 40. FX Network, Season 2, Episode 5, 2022. 41. Eugene K. Bertman, “Tribal Appellate Courts: A Practical Guide to History and Practice,” 84 OBJ 2115 (2013). 42. See Oliphant v. Suquamish Tribe, 435 U. S. 191, 194, n. 3 (1978) (citing Talton v. Mayes, 163 U. S. 376 (1896)). 43. Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, 25 U.S.C. 1301-1303. 44. See Michael J. Douma, “Symposium: The Origins and Iconization of the Bill of Rights: How the First Ten Amendments Became the Bill of Rights,” 15 Geo. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 593 (“Although the general idea of a bill of rights was often associated with the first ten amendments, Americans in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century did not use the term ‘the bill of rights’ and ‘the first ten amendments’ interchangeably, in a one-to-one correspondence.”). 45. 25 U.S.C. §1302. 46. Darla W. Jackson, “Caution – Slow Progress Ahead: Accessing and Researching Tribal Court Opinions,” 91 OBJ 48 (2020). 47. See, e.g, tribal court webpages for the: Seminole Nation (https://bit.ly/4aarKcW), Choctaw Nation (https://bit.ly/3Pgo6Gn), Chickasaw Nation (https://bit.ly/48ONt9c), Quapaw Nation (https://bit.ly/3VeyDFJ), Comanche Nation (https://bit.ly/3VkMhaa), Kaw Nation (https://bit.ly/48O3w7a) and Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma (https://bit.ly/4a6KdHg), (last visited Jan. 8, 2024). 48. Cherokee Nation Legislative Research Center, available online at https://bit.ly/3Txl6rF (last visited Dec. 5, 2023). 49. See http://tribalcodes.info/index.html (last visited Jan. 8, 2024). 50. See https://oklaw.org/issues/tribal-law (last visited Dec. 5, 2023). 51. See https://bit.ly/4c8jPhZ (last visited Dec. 5, 2023). 52. See https://thorpe.law.ou.edu (last visited Dec. 5, 2023). 53. See https://bit.ly/3VkMqKK (last visited Dec. 5, 2023). 54. See Supreme Court for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation homepage, https://bit.ly/3IydY7W (last visited Dec. 22, 2023). 55. See Cherokee Nation Judicial Branch homepage, https://bit.ly/3v3snGd (last visited Dec. 5, 2023). 56. See generally, LexisNexis or Lexis+ or Lexis+ AI at https://bit.ly/49ZaJ5g (last visited Jan. 8, 2024). 57. See https://1.next.westlaw.com (last visited Dec. 22, 2023). 58. 498 U.S. 505, 509 (1991). 59. Tonto’s Revenge (University of New Mexico Press, 1997). 60. See Article 7, Section 4. 61. Cf. Deo v. Parish, MA-2022-937 (Okla. Court of Crim. Appeals, Dec. 14, 2023). 62. Plains Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land and Cattle Co., Inc., 554 U.S. 316 (2008). 63. See Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, 597 U.S. _ (2022). 64. Williams v. Lee, 358 U.S. 217 (1959) (suggests state courts have no jurisdiction to grant divorces when both parties are Native and domiciled in Indian Country). 65. Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544 (1981), Dollar General Corporation v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, 579 U.S. 809 (2016). 66. 18 U.S.C. §1153. 67. Oklahoma Tax Comm’n v. Citizen Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe, 498 U.S. 505 (1991). 68. See endnote 32, supra. 69. 42 U.S.C. §136. 70. Paramount Pictures/Apple Studios, 2024. 71. See 25 U.S.C. §§1901-1963. See Ann Murray Haag, “The Indian Boarding School Era and Its Continuing Impact on Tribal Families and the Provision of Government Services,” 43 Tulsa L. Rev. 149, 149 (2007) (The ICWA was first enacted by Congress in 1978 to slow and reverse the historical treatment of Native children in their removal from their tribal homes.). 72. See 25 U.S.C. §1902 and Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians v. Holyfield, 490 U.S. 30, 36, (1989) (explaining the substantive requirements of the ICWA) (Indian children should be placed in foster and adoptive homes, absent good cause to the contrary, which “reflect the unique values of Indian culture.”); see also 25 U.S.C. §1915 (procedure for placing Indian children in foster care and adoption). Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTk3MQ==