Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-9526_9okb.pdf
Page Number: 9

6 

MCGIRT v. OKLAHOMA 

Opinion of the Court 

19th  century,  many  other  federal  laws  also  expressly  re-
ferred to the Creek Reservation.  See, e.g., Treaty Between
United States and Cherokee Nation of Indians, Art. IV, July 
19, 1866, 14 Stat. 800 (“Creek reservation”); Act of Mar. 3,
1873,  ch.  322,  17  Stat.  626;  (multiple  references  to  the
“Creek reservation” and “Creek India[n] Reservation”); 11
Cong.  Rec.  2351  (1881)  (discussing  “the  dividing  line  be-
tween the Creek reservation and their ceded lands”); Act of 
Feb. 13, 1891, 26 Stat. 750 (describing a cession by refer-
encing the “West boundary line of the Creek Reservation”). 
There is a final set of assurances that bear mention, too. 
In the Treaty of 1856, Congress promised that “no portion” 
of  the  Creek  Reservation  “shall  ever  be  embraced  or  in-
cluded within, or annexed to, any Territory or State.”  Art. 
IV, 11 Stat. 700.  And within their lands, with exceptions,
the Creeks were to be “secured in the unrestricted right of
self-government,”  with  “full  jurisdiction”  over  enrolled
Tribe members and their property.  Art. XV, id., at 704.  So 
the Creek were promised not only a “permanent home” that 
would be “forever set apart”; they were also assured a right 
to self-government on lands that would lie outside both the 
legal jurisdiction and geographic boundaries of any State.
Under any definition, this was a reservation. 

III 
A 
While there can be no question that Congress established
a  reservation  for  the  Creek  Nation,  it’s  equally  clear  that
Congress has since broken more than a few of its promises
to the Tribe.  Not least, the land described in the parties’ 
treaties, once undivided and held by the Tribe, is now frac-
tured into pieces.  While these pieces were initially distrib-
uted to Tribe members, many were sold and now belong to 
persons unaffiliated with the Nation.  So in what sense, if 

—————— 
Creek nation entered into before” the Civil War).