Dear Oklahoma Friends and Neighbors...

I encourage everyone to stop for a minute and count your blessings. With everything in the world being so unstable, it is a good moment to remember all that is still good. It is also a good moment for leaders in every business, neighborhood, and family to take responsibility and set the example for others around you. Let’s find practical ways to help others.

This week, the Senate continued to consider nominations to fill Executive and Judicial Branch vacancies and work through committee hearings and legislation. We authorized funding for our defense community and addressed the atrocities by the Chinese government in Hong Kong. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on which I serve passed a number of important bills out of Committee to address issues including: supply chain problems from China, preparing for the next pandemic, stopping spying from China, improving security technology on America’s southwest border, improving telework for federal agencies, stopping unfunded mandates from federal agencies, and more.

After we finish legislation on our national response to COVID-19, I plan to directly hear from constituents back home and work with them to develop solutions to our problems. I will spend the upcoming August state work period connecting with Oklahoma healthcare providers, manufacturers, school leaders, law enforcement, farmers and ranchers, nonprofits, small businesses, local government entities across the state, and others to hear about the issues they and their families face and how Congress can do its part to resolve those issues. I am grateful for the time we have in August to be out of Washington, DC, and hear from Oklahomans.

Please stay engaged with my office if you need help navigating federal agencies or need to be directed to resources for where to turn on other issues. We’re here to serve you.

US Supreme Court Decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma

On May 11, attorneys for Mr. Jimcy McGirt and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the Oklahoma Solicitor General argued their respective sides of a case before the US Supreme Court about whether the Creek Reservation (a large section of eastern Oklahoma) was “disestablished” as a reservation by Congress more than 100 years ago. Attorneys for Mr. McGirt, a Tribal member, argued that Oklahoma lacked jurisdiction to try him in Oklahoma state court because they argued his crime of rape was committed on Muscogee (Creek) reservation land.

The Major Crimes Act, which covers crimes like rape and murder, gives only the federal government the ability to try these crimes if committed on a reservation and involving a Tribal member. If the Muscogee (Creek) Reservation was never disestablished, as the defendant argued, the state would have never had jurisdiction to try Mr. McGirt because the federal court should have been the appropriate trial venue.

On July 9, in a 5-4 decision authored by Justice Gorsuch, the Court held in McGirt that the Creek Reservation was never disestablished by Congress. So Mr. McGirt must be retried in federal court.

The Court’s decision has caused numerous rumors to spread regarding Tribal and non-Tribal land ownership and jurisdiction in the reservation land. My staff and I have been engaged along with the entire Oklahoma congressional delegation, the Tribes, the state, and all stakeholders to track areas that Congress will need to work on regarding any required follow-up federal legislation to provide predictability and certainty for all Oklahomans. The more questions we answer now, the fewer guesses or assumptions people will have to make in the future. If you have questions, concerns, or ideas about Oklahoma’s future, please send me an email with your thoughts. As we write legislation to bring predictability, we want to be sure we cover as many relevant issues as possible for future generations.