Sharp v. Murphy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sharp v. Murphy |
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| Argued November 27, 2018 Decided July 9, 2020 |
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| Full case name | Tommy Sharp, Interim Warden Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Petitioner v. Patrick Dwayne Murphy |
| Docket nos. | 17-1107 |
| Citations | 591 U.S. ___ (more)
140 S. Ct. 2412
207 L. Ed. 2d 1043 |
| Prior history |
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| Argument | Oral argument |
| Holding | |
| For Major Crimes Act purposes, land reserved for the Creek Nation since the 19th century remains "Indian country". | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Per curiam. | |
| Dissent | Thomas (did not file or join an opinion) |
| Dissent | Alito (did not file or join an opinion) |
| Gorsuch took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
| Laws applied | |
| Major Crimes Act 18 U.S.C. § 1151 |
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Sharp v. Murphy, 591 U.S. ___ (2020), was a Supreme Court of the United States case of whether Congress disestablished the Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation. After holding the case from the 2018 term, the case was decided on July 9, 2020, in a per curiam decision following McGirt v. Oklahoma that, for the purposes of the Major Crimes Act, the reservations were never disestablished and remain Native American country.
In 1866, Congress established reservation boundaries for the Muscogee (Creek), Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole Nations. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation boundaries composes three million acres in Eastern Oklahoma, including most of the city of Tulsa. The boundaries for all five nations consist of over 19 million acres and nearly the entire eastern half of Oklahoma. In 1907, Congress admitted Oklahoma to the Union as the 46th state and federal territorial courts immediately transferred all non-federal cases involving Native Americans to state courts. However, in the process, it has been found that Congress never officially disestablished the tribal reservations, a requirement for a tribal reservation to lose that status as demanded under Solem v. Bartlett (1984).
The situation arose following the appeal of a convicted murderer, Patrick Murphy, a member of the Muscogee-Creek tribe, with his crime taking place within the boundaries of Muscogee-Creek reservation as delimited by Congress in 1866. The appeal addressed whether the federal territorial courts had congressional authorization to make this transfer, as if the lands were still a tribal reservation, Murphy's crime would become subject to federal jurisdiction rather than Oklahoma. Although this case is specific to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the Court's decision is likely to also apply to reservations of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole Nations because all five tribes have similar histories within the state of Oklahoma.
The case was first heard by the Supreme Court in its 2018–2019 term; Justice Neil Gorsuch recused himself due to having participated as a federal appellate judge when the case was heard in lower courts, which created a potential deadlock between the remaining eight Justices. The Supreme Court announced at the end of the term that it would hold additional oral arguments during the 2019 term. It also heard a second case, McGirt v. Oklahoma, in May 2020 involving similar matters and which Justice Gorsuch had no prior conflict with.
Impact
The rulings in Sharp and McGirt have had a significant impact on the state of Oklahoma, particular on past criminal convictions, where the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has broadly ruled that any crime involving Native Americans on the tribal lands in the state fall outside the prosecution of the state. This has included crimes where the perpetrator was non-Native while the victims were Native. The state has argued that this stance has created difficulties in enforcing the law in the state, and it has an interest to help protect Native citizens from crimes committed against them by non-Natives, and as of September 2021, has currently petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn some or all of McGirt based on this situation.
