(CN) — The federal judiciary asked Congress on Tuesday to add five federal judgeships in Oklahoma as courts grapple with an expanded caseload caused by a Supreme Court ruling that shifted prosecutions of Native Americans from state to federal courts.
In a 5-4 order in McGirt v. Oklahoma, the high court held in July 2020 that federal or tribal courts, not state courts, have jurisdiction over cases in which Native Americans are accused of committing crimes on Muscogee (Creek) Nation land in eastern Oklahoma.
The decision was later expanded to the eastern Oklahoma lands of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole tribes.
It prompted a flurry of post-conviction appeals by other Native American inmates demanding their release from Oklahoma state prisons and forced federal prosecutors to bring their own charges to keep violent criminals behind bars.
The shift in jurisdiction has caused the number of criminal cases to increase more than 400% in the Northern District of Oklahoma, headquartered in Tulsa, and 200% in the Eastern District of Oklahoma based in Muscogee, according to the Judicial Conference of the United States, the policy-making body for the federal court system. The conference consists of 26 judges led by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
So the Judicial Conference on Tuesday recommended that Congress authorize three new judgeships for the Eastern District of Oklahoma and two for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
The McGirt decision further complicated operations for Oklahoma federal courts as they, like courts across the country, are dealing with jury trial delays caused by the pandemic.





