Curtis Killman
Tulsa World Staff Writer
A federal judge said Monday that he would dismiss a civil lawsuit that challenged the city of Tulsa’s right to issue traffic tickets to tribal citizens.
Chief U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson of the District of New Mexico told attorneys during an online status conference hearing that he would issue the order “in the near future.”
The pending dismissal comes in a lawsuit filed by Choctaw tribal citizen Justin Hooper, who challenged the city’s jurisdiction to issue him a traffic ticket for speeding in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 McGirt ruling.
Johnson asked attorneys during the hearing why he shouldn’t dismiss the lawsuit following the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ June ruling that the city of Tulsa couldn’t use a 19th century-era law — the Curtis Act — to claim criminal jurisdiction over tribal citizens in municipal court.
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John Dunn, Hooper’s attorney, said the only thing that remains in the case is for the judge to issue an order declaring that the Curtis Act does not give the city of Tulsa jurisdiction over tribal citizens and to overturn its original ruling in favor of the city.
Johnson initially ruled in favor of the city’s claim that the Curtis Act still gave it jurisdiction over tribal citizens on municipal court matters.
Kristina Gray, an attorney for the city of Tulsa, urged the court to not dismiss the case.
Gray said the U.S. Supreme Court’s Castro-Huerta ruling in 2022 will be an issue raised by the city in its defense of issuing tickets to tribal members.
“So we don’t think that this case is solely limited to the Curtis Act and we believe that the court remanded it not solely to enter an order … but for further proceedings,” Gray said.
But Dunn said the city did not adopt any of the arguments regarding the Castro-Huerta ruling as the state of Oklahoma did in its friend of the court brief filed in the case.
“If anything, because Tulsa did not raise it at the 10th Circuit, they’ve waived the argument,” Dunn said, regarding the Castro-Huerta opinion, which determined that the state of Oklahoma has concurrent criminal jurisdiction when a nontribal member victimizes a tribal member on a tribal reservation.
Johnson noted that the 10th Circuit declined to bring the Castro-Huerta issue into the Hooper case despite the U.S. Supreme Court issuing its Castro-Huerta ruling prior to the 10th Circuit ruling in the Hooper case.
Gray countered that the Castro-Huerta ruling was not addressed by both parties and has not been briefed.
“It was not raised before the circuit because, presumably, the Supreme Court indicated we could come back to the district court and raise it at the district court,” Gray said.
Johnson said he believed a federal civil lawsuit filed in November by the Muscogee Nation against the city of Tulsa is better situated to address the issue of whether the city has the right to ticket a tribal citizen.
“It strikes me that the more recent case … is the more appropriate forum. if you will. or case to raise these issues,” Johnson said.”And by my dismissing this case for lack of jurisdiction I’m not foreclosing or shutting the door on the city of Tulsa to raise those issues that exist as a result of the Castro-Huerta opinion,” Johnson said.
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