Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-9526_9okb.pdf
Page Number: 45

42 

MCGIRT v. OKLAHOMA 

Opinion of the Court 

cooperative  sovereignty”  behind  these  agreements,  id.,  at 
20,  will  be  imperiled  by  an  adverse  decision  for  the  State 
today any more than it might be by a favorable one.16  And, 
of  course,  should  agreement  prove  elusive,  Congress  re-
mains free to supplement its statutory directions about the
lands in question at any time.  It has no shortage of tools at 
its disposal. 

* 
The  federal  government  promised  the  Creek  a  reserva-
tion  in  perpetuity.  Over  time,  Congress  has  diminished 
that  reservation.  It  has  sometimes  restricted  and  other 
times  expanded  the  Tribe’s  authority.    But  Congress  has 
never  withdrawn  the  promised  reservation.    As  a  result, 
many of the arguments before us today follow a sadly famil-
iar pattern.  Yes, promises were made, but the price of keep-
ing them has become too great, so now we should just cast 
a blind eye.  We reject that thinking.  If Congress wishes to
withdraw its promises, it must say so.  Unlawful acts, per-
formed  long  enough  and  with  sufficient  vigor,  are  never 
enough to amend the law.  To hold otherwise would be to 
elevate  the  most  brazen  and  longstanding  injustices  over 
the  law,  both  rewarding  wrong  and  failing  those  in  the 
right.

The judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals of Okla-

homa is 

—————— 

Reversed. 

16  This sense of cooperation and a shared future is on display in this 
very case.  The Creek Nation is supported by an array of leaders of other
Tribes and the State of Oklahoma, many of whom had a role in negotiat-
ing  exactly  these  agreements.  See  Brief  for  Tom  Cole  et  al.  as  Amici 
Curiae 1 (“Amici are a former Governor, State Attorney General, cabinet 
members,  and  legislators  of  the  State  of  Oklahoma,  and  two  federally
recognized Indian tribes, the Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation of
Oklahoma”) (brief authored by Robert H. Henry, also a former State At-
torney General and Chief Judge of the Tenth Circuit).