BY FOX23:
The Oklahoma State Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that the agreement between the City of Tulsa and the Muscogee Nation about criminal justice matters is invalid because they did not have proper approval from state lawmakers.
The state’s highest court ruled Wednesday that the City of Tulsa and the tribe did not have the authority to enter into such an agreement on their own. It did not strike down the terms of the agreement, but rather, how the agreement was entered into, which legally voided the entire deal.
“… The Court issues a writ of mandamus compelling Tulsa to secure the appropriate statutory approvals if Tulsa wishes to proceed with the Agreement and grants the declaratory relief sought by Petitioner. Because the Agreement lacked the mandatory statutory approvals required under 74 O.S.2021, § 1221(D)(1), it is unenforceable as a matter of law,” the court’s majority opinion wrote.
Tulsa and the Muscogee Nation signed a comprehensive agreement on how to handle criminal justice matters as they tried to settle a legal dispute over Tulsa prosecuting tribal citizens in the part of the city that is within the boundaries of the Muscogee Nation. The dispute arises after the Supreme Court’s historic McGirt decision which declared that for the purposes of criminal justice matters, the state’s Indian reservations were never disestablished when Oklahoma became a state in 1907.
Both sides have said they needed to enter into an agreement because the state was not moving in any way to establish any kind of criminal justice compact or official procedures between state, local, and tribal jurisdictions.
Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols, who ran for mayor on a platform that included getting the city out of court, said he would try to get approval from the state legislature next year.
“The City of Tulsa looks forward to working with the Legislature next session to ensure alignment between the city, state, and tribal nations. It is imperative that the political fights come to an end because, at the end of the day, we are all Oklahomans,” Nichols said in a statement.
Nichols said there has been improvement in the city’s crime rate since the agreement took place less than a year ago.
“Political posturing on this federal court settlement agreement will not obstruct the City of Tulsa’s cooperative working relationship with our tribal partners. Since the City’s shift in policy in 2025, it should be noted that crime has gone down 20 percent. We will continue to work closely with the Muscogee Nation and the Cherokee Nation to protect public safety, as we are specifically authorized to do under the terms of the state-approved cross-deputization agreements,” he stated.
The Muscogee Nation also said in a statement to FOX23 blamed the governor for blocking the agreement and said they look forward to working with lawmakers in the future now that Stitt’s time in office is term-limited.
“We have carefully reviewed the ruling and are considering next steps, which will include continuing progressive and positive conversations with our partners in the Legislature. The amount of effort and financial resources from the state expended by the Governor, in order to block cooperation agreements that make our communities safer, is baffling and shameful. We thank Mayor Nichols and the City of Tulsa for the great work we’ve already achieved, lowering crime rates since we signed this historic agreement, and all that we will continue to do for our shared future.”
Governor Kevin Stitt celebrated the ruling, saying the City of Tulsa was attempting to go around his authority to enter into an agreement he did not approve of.
“The Supreme Court ruled in favor of local law enforcement, restoring the position of previous City of Tulsa leadership and affirming my administration’s position that a city cannot unilaterally enter into an agreement without the Governor’s consent,” Stitt said in a statement. “This agreement would have mandated that Tulsa’s laws were to be enforced based on race. You can’t pick and choose who to apply the law to, especially based on race.”
The future of the Tulsa-Muscogee agreement will now be in the hands of who will be governor, attorney general, and in the legislature next year. Multiple candidates, regardless of party, have pledged to renew talks, compacting, and cooperation with Oklahoma’s tribal nations, but many have also said they were concerned the City of Tulsa was setting a precedent to create a patchwork of law enforcement agreements that would create different standards in different parts of the same city.
