OCPA column: One-sided negotiation?

One-sided negotiation? By Jonathan Small Imagine a future where you face new regulations on everything from criminal justice to environmental oversight to taxation. Now imagine a policy response is being negotiated, but no one representing your interests is allowed in the room. Instead, the entire negotiation is between people on the other side of the issue and their employees. Sounds crazy, right? Unfortunately, that appears to be occurring today as Oklahoma grapples with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that tribal reservations were not formally abolished when it comes to criminal jurisdiction (which opens the door for increased tribal authority in a wide range of areas). To reach this point, many prominent state officials weighed in and suggested reestablishment of reservations would not be a big challenge in Oklahoma—even though the court reaching that decision would also involve vacating Jimcy McGirt’s prison sentence. McGirt was convicted of molesting, raping, and forcibly sodomizing a four-year-old girl. Those filing a brief in McGirt’s case, in which McGirt’s attorneys argued he could not be tried in state court because he is Seminole and Creek reservation boundaries remain in place, included U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, former Gov. Brad Henry, former state Senate leader Glenn Coffee, former Oklahoma House Speaker Kris Steele, former Attorney General Mike Turpen, former state House Speaker T.W. Shannon, former U.S. Rep. Dan Boren, and others. All signed their name to a brief submitted by the Chickasaw Nation and the Choctaw Nation. Read more » by Jamison Faught - July 28, 2020 at 11:15PM

OCPA column: One-sided negotiation? Click the title to read the entire article at Muskogee Politico