In 2020, the Supreme Court held in McGirt v. Oklahoma that the boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation remained and therefore Oklahoma lacked criminal jurisdiction over crimes involving tribal citizens.  The ruling has since been extended to include the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole Nations.  The panelists will discuss the impact of this decision on the Five Tribes and explore its implications for other Native nations as well. Each speaker will consider some of the ways Native Nations are considering the promises and potentially unfulfilled possibilities at the end of the trail.  

Panelists:

Stacy Leeds (Cherokee Nation), is the Foundation Professor of Law and Leadership at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University and Dean Emeritus of University of Arkansas College of Law.  Leeds is a former Justice on the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court and former Chairperson of the  Cherokee Nation Gaming Commission. She is currently a distract court judge for Muscogee (Creek) Nation.   

Doug Kiel (Oneida Nation), is an Assistant Professor of History at Northwestern University.  He recently published the article “Nation v. Municipality: Indigenous Land Recovery, Settler Resentment, and Taxation on the Oneida Reservation” in NAIS, a case that ended favorably for the Oneida  Nation in part because of the McGirt decision.  He is currently working on a book manuscript entitled “Unsettling Territory:  Oneida Indian Resurgence and Anti-Sovereignty Backlash.” 

Chief Ben Barnes (Shawnee Tribe) currently serves the Shawnee Tribe as the elected chief of the Tribal Council. He has also served as the Director of Tribal Gaming for Miami Nation Enterprises. He advocates for   language and cultural preservation. He is the co-author of “Salvaging the Salvage Anthropologists: Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin, Carl Voegelin, and the Future of Ethnohistory,” which articulates an important call to scholars to collaborate with Native nations whenever possible. 

Questions can be directed to Dr. Julie Reed, Associate Professor of History.

Registration required: https://psu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_eqv7e4NITmyZ_7SPS2vlhw