The Indian Law Bombshell Case: McGirt v. Oklahoma - Robert J. Miller

At the April 2024 Meeting of the American Philosophical Society, Robert J. Miller, Jonathan and Wendy Rose Professor of Law, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University, gave the talk "The Indian Law Bombshell Case: McGirt v. Oklahoma."

About the speaker:
Robert J. Miller’s areas of expertise are Federal Indian Law, American Indians and international law, American Indian economic development, Constitutional Law, and Civil Procedure. He is an enrolled citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe, the Chief Justice for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Court of Appeals, and he sits as a judge for other tribes. Bob is the Jonathan and Wendy Rose Professor of Law, and in 2019-24 he was the Willard H. Pedrick Distinguished Research Scholar. He is also the Faculty Director of the Rosette LLP American Indian Economic Development Program at ASU.

In 2014, Bob was elected to the American Philosophical Society. In 2024, he was elected to the Governing Council of the Society. The APS is the oldest learned society in the United States and was created by Benjamin Franklin in 1743 for "promoting useful knowledge." Thomas Jefferson served as president of the APS for seventeen years overlapping his time as president of the United States. The APS has only elected about 5,800 members in its 280 year history.

Before joining ASU in 2013, Miller was on the faculty of Lewis & Clark Law School from 1999-2013. Prior to his career in academia, he practiced Indian law with Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker, and litigation with the Stoel Rives law firm. Following graduation from law school, he clerked for Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Professor Miller’s scholarly works include articles, books, book chapters, and editorials on a wide array of Federal Indian Law issues and he speaks regularly on these issues across the U.S. and in other countries. He is the author of "Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny" (Praeger 2006), and "Reservation 'Capitalism': Economic Development in Indian Country" (Praeger 2012). He co-authored "A Promise Kept: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and McGirt v. Oklahoma (University of Oklahoma Press 2023); "Creating Private Sector Economies in Native America: Sustainable Development through Entrepreneurship" (Cambridge University Press 2019); and "Discovering Indigenous Lands: The Doctrine of Discovery in the English Colonies" (Oxford University Press 2010). Professor Miller has worked as a consultant with the American Philosophical Society since 2006 on tribal language and archival issues. He was elected to the American Law Institute in 2012.

Chapters:
00:00 - Supreme Court and the Impact of McGirt v. Oklahoma
01:09 - The Historic Significance of Indian Law Cases
02:34 - Why McGirt v. Oklahoma Is a "Bombshell" Case
04:06 - Treaty Rights and the Supremacy Clause in McGirt
05:45 - The Impact of the McGirt Decision on Indian Country
08:46 - Tribal Sovereignty and Jurisdiction Explained
10:15 - Muskogee Creek Nation’s Reservation and Legal Rights
12:30 - Historical Context: Treaty Violations and Indian Territory
14:20 - The Supreme Court’s Three-Part Test in McGirt
16:45 - Justice Gorsuch’s Role and Originalist Perspective
19:15 - Reservation Boundaries and the Decision’s Ripple Effect
21:26 - Oklahoma’s Legislative and Financial Response to McGirt
23:31 - Federal Responsibility and Tribal Jurisdiction Expansion
25:08 - Non-Native Implications: Governance and Taxes in Oklahoma
27:05 - The Future of Tribal-State Relations Post-McGirt

About American Philosophical Society:
The American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States, was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin for the purpose of “promoting useful knowledge.” In the 21st century we sustain this mission in three principal ways. We honor and engage leading scholars, scientists, and professionals through elected membership and opportunities for interdisciplinary, intellectual fellowship, particularly in our semi-annual Meetings. We support research and discovery through grants and fellowships, lectures, publications, prizes, exhibitions, and public education. We serve scholars through a research library of manuscripts and other collections internationally recognized for their enduring historic value. The American Philosophical Society’s current activities reflect the founder’s spirit of inquiry, provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas, and convey our conviction that intellectual inquiry and critical thought are inherently in the best interest of the public.

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