Gorsuch’s Last Stand In McGirt Last Chance 2 End Chaos

Justice Neil Gorsuch showed in his curious Oklahoma tribal decision why a conservative can be a Supreme jack a** too. As the WSJ recently noted, his siding with the 4 progressive Justices in McGirt v Oklahoma touched off “legal and economic havoc” that his conservative colleagues had warned him about (& perhaps partly to show how “unbiased” he is).

The down & Mcdirt: “Justice Gorsuch, joined in 2020 by the Court’s 4 liberals, essentially said nearly half of Oklahoma – with 1.9 million people & most of Tulsa – might still be Indian country under treaties from the 1800s. The results have included overturned convictions all the way up to murder … tax protests & rules on everything from zoning to fishing to marijuana put into doubt.”

It’s an old discredited legal theory that runs against a century of precedents & needlessly if not foolishly gave a Lazarus like resurrection to die hard tribal advocates, according to many legal experts. “In our opinion, this is the biggest issue to hit any state since the Civil War,” said Gov. Kevin Stitt, himself a Cherokee. Now, the parties are back before the court with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett having replaced liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg since that 2020 ruling. Will the reinforced conservatives at the 11th hour circle the wagons and take back Custer’s, er, Gorsuch’s earlier ruling? Concluded the WSJ editors: “They should.”

Davd Soul