Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-429_8o6a.pdf
Page Number: 70

42 

OKLAHOMA v. CASTRO-HUERTA 

GORSUCH, J., dissenting 

decision in Worcester: “ ‘[T]hanks be to God, the Court can 
wash  [its]  hands  clean  of  the  iniquity  of  oppressing  the
Indians and disregarding their rights.’ ”  Breyer 420.  “ ‘The 
Court had done its duty,’ ” even if Georgia refused to do its 
own.  Ibid.  Today,  the  tables  turn.  Oklahoma’s  courts 
exercised the fortitude to stand athwart their own State’s 
lawless  disregard  of  the  Cherokee’s  sovereignty.    Now,  at 
the  bidding  of  Oklahoma’s  executive  branch,  this  Court 
unravels  those  lower-court  decisions,  defies  Congress’s
statutes requiring tribal consent, offers its own consent in 
place of the Tribe’s, and allows Oklahoma to intrude on a 
feature of tribal sovereignty recognized since the founding.
One can only hope the political branches and future courts
will do their duty to honor this Nation’s promises even as 
we have failed today to do our own.