The Oklahoma state government is allocating $500,000 to aid Tulsa’s district attorney in a jurisdictional fight with Muscogee Nation.
The legislature’s Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations voted 6-1 to allocate the funds to Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler’s case during a meeting last Thursday.
That case questions whether the state can try non-Muscogee tribal citizens within the reservation for minor crimes. Kunzweiler argues it can. Last year, a federal judge agreed, ruling that federal law does not prohibit Tulsa County officials from exercising concurrent criminal jurisdiction over tribal citizens who aren’t Muscogee.
Muscogee Nation later appealed that decision, arguing it threatened tribal sovereignty and the tribe’s ability to try non-member Indigenous people.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has since set an oral argumentfor Nov. 17.
Rogers County District Attorney Matt Ballard, who is working on the case, said the legislature allocated an initial $250,000 to cover litigation costs and approved a contractual limit of up-to $1 million in January. He said $16,000 of that amount remains.
Ballard argued during the committee meeting that $500,000 would cover litigation costs until January, when new legislators will be sworn in at the state capitol. And he said it would cover preparation for the Nov. 17 hearing.
“The good news is that we have been good stewards of the money that this committee has appropriated up to this point,” Ballard said last week. “I say that to add this caveat: litigation is about to heat up significantly … Over the course of the next 45 days, litigation costs are going to ramp up significantly while we prepare for that significant event in front of the Tenth Circuit.”
Kunzweiler said the costs help go toward national litigation consultants. He said they’re necessary for this kind of case, which he anticipates will reach the U.S. Supreme Court regardless of what happens.
“We’re very confident that if the ruling is for the state, that the Muscogees will be appealing that.” Kunzweiler said. “We’re very confident that if it’s against the state, that we’ll be appealing it up to the Supreme Court.”
Rep. Steve Bashore, R-Miami, said the case is unprecedented and that he empathized with the district attorneys. Sen. Brent Howard, R-Altus, said although the cost was higher than he anticipated and he would like more transparency on that number, he considered the allocation beneficial.
Sen. Mary Boren, D-Norman, was the only legislator who opposed the allocation. She said she wasn’t convinced the litigation strategy improves state-tribal relationships.
The money stems from the $10 million State-Tribal Litigation Fund, which was created in 2021 by Gov. Kevin Stitt to deal with legal disputes between the state and tribal governments.
According to committee chair and Choctaw citizen Rep. Scott Fetgatter, R-Okmulgee, that fund now has $9 million.
This story was produced as part of a partnership between the Tulsa Flyer and KOSU.