Supreme Court Upholds Oklahoma Child Neglect Prosecution in Ruling That Curbs Tribal Criminal Authority

Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh attend the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol Building on Feb. 5, 2019. Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images

In a complex 5–4 ruling that narrows its own 2020 decision enhancing tribal authority in Oklahoma, the Supreme Court ruled on June 29 in favor of the state’s prosecution of a non-Native American man convicted of neglecting his young Indian stepdaughter on Indian territory.

The decision is a win for the state of Oklahoma and the principle of state sovereignty.