TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) — U.S. Attorney General William Barr is planning a visit to Oklahoma on Wednesday with leaders of the Cherokee Nation and federal prosecutors from Tulsa and Muskogee.
Barr is expected to lead a roundtable discussion at the tribe’s headquarters in Tahlequah with Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., the tribe’s Attorney General Sara Hill, and U.S. attorneys from the northern and eastern districts of Oklahoma.
Among the topics Barr is expected to discuss is funding for staff increases, according to a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Trent Shores.
Shores and U.S. Attorney Brian Kuester in Muskogee say they’ve seen a dramatic increase in caseloads after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country.
That ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma determined that a large swath of eastern Oklahoma remains a Muscogee (Creek) Nation Indian reservation. As a result, either the federal government or the tribal nation has jurisdiction over crimes committed by or against Native Americans, not the state.
