Statement on McCauley Decision | Osage Nation Office of the Attorney General

We are obviously disappointed by the decision, but not at all surprised. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals continues to chip away at the sovereign rights of Indian Nations, as affirmed by the McGirt decision. The decision in Osage Nation v. Irby was wrong in 2010, but since the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in McGirt, Irby has been completely indefensible. Congress has never disestablished the Osage Nation Reservation, which the Nation purchased using its own funds when it was forced by the United States to remove from a reservation in Kansas to a new reservation in Oklahoma. So, an injustice remains on the books today—for another court to fix.