The U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary stay in the Hooper v. City of Tulsa case. The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that the city of Tulsa did not have the authority to issue a traffic ticket to Justin Hooper in 2018 because he was a member of the Choctaw Nation. Tulsa sits within the Muscogee Reservation, stemming from the Supreme Court’s McGirt v. Oklahoma decision which changed criminal jurisdiction with tribal reservations.
The Supreme Court justices wanted more time to examine the Hooper case, so the temporary stay was issued this week.
Governor Kevin Stitt is all for the stay.
“I am encouraged that the United States Supreme Court delayed the implementation of the 10th Circuit’s devastating decision in Hooper v. City of Tulsa. If the Hooper decision stands, the City of Tulsa, using their own words to the Supreme Court, “…will no longer be able to enforce violations of municipal ordinances against Indian inhabitants,”” said Stitt. “We must operate under one set of rules, regardless of race, heritage or background, and cannot allow Tulsa and much of the rest of eastern Oklahoma to be turned into a reservation.”
The city of Tulsa has appealed the 10th Circuit Court’s mandate.
Many tribes with reservations have set up cross-deputization agreements with local governments. Some of the tribes either remit traffic violation fines back to the municipality or have a fee sharing agreement in place in the wake of the McGirt decision.
