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2 

MCGIRT v. OKLAHOMA 

Opinion of the Court 

I 
At  one  level,  the  question  before  us  concerns  Jimcy
McGirt. Years ago, an Oklahoma state court convicted him 
of three serious sexual offenses.  Since then, he has argued 
in postconviction proceedings that the State lacked jurisdic-
tion to prosecute him because he is an enrolled member of 
the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and his crimes took place
on the Creek Reservation.  A new trial for his conduct, he 
has contended, must take place in federal court.  The Okla-
homa state courts hearing Mr. McGirt’s arguments rejected 
them, so he now brings them here. 

Mr.  McGirt’s  appeal  rests  on  the  federal  Major  Crimes
Act (MCA).  The statute provides that, within “the Indian 
country,” “[a]ny Indian who commits” certain enumerated 
offenses “against the person or property of another Indian
or any other person” “shall be subject to the same law and
penalties as all other persons committing any of the above
offenses,  within  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  United
States.”  18 U. S. C. §1153(a).  By subjecting Indians to fed-
eral trials for crimes committed on tribal lands, Congress 
may  have  breached  its  promises  to  tribes  like  the  Creek 
that they would be free to govern themselves.  But this par-
ticular  incursion  has  its  limits—applying  only  to  certain
enumerated  crimes  and  allowing  only  the  federal  govern-
ment to try Indians. State courts generally have no juris-
diction  to  try  Indians  for  conduct  committed  in  “Indian 
country.”  Negonsott  v.  Samuels,  507  U. S.  99,  102–103 
(1993).

The  key  question  Mr.  McGirt  faces  concerns  that  last 
qualification:  Did he commit his crimes in Indian country?  
A neighboring provision of the MCA defines the term to in-
clude, among other things, “all land within the limits of any 
Indian  reservation  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United
States  Government,  notwithstanding  the  issuance  of  any 
patent,  and,  including  rights-of-way  running  through  the
reservation.”  §1151(a).  Mr. McGirt submits he can satisfy