Carpenter v. Murphy

Background

The Court directed the parties in the case, the Solicitor General, and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation to file additional written arguments. The dispute concerns criminal prosecutions for crimes committed by Indians in the area defined by the Creek Nation’s 1866 territorial boundaries and whether that area’s reservation status matters for prosecution. The order sets page and word limits and requires initial supplemental briefs by December 28, 2018 and reply briefs by January 11, 2019.

Reasoning

The Justices asked two narrow questions for briefing rather than deciding the case on the spot. First, they asked whether any law gives Oklahoma authority to prosecute crimes by Indians anywhere inside the 1866 Creek boundaries, regardless of whether that land is formally a reservation. Second, they asked whether land can legally be a reservation yet still fail to meet the statute’s definition of “Indian country” in 18 U.S.C. § 1151(a). The Court’s order seeks the parties’ views and additional facts; it does not resolve which government has prosecutorial power.

Real world impact

The answers the Court receives could determine who prosecutes certain crimes in the Creek Territory and clarify whether reservation status alone creates federal "Indian country" protections. Because this is a request for more briefing, the Court’s ultimate ruling could later change who has criminal authority in these lands.