*The Cherokee Nation aims to amend a 140-year-old federal law concerning criminal jurisdiction for tribal citizens based on “blood quantum.”
This challenge to the federal Major Crimes Act coincides with the tribe accepting descendants of formerly enslaved Black individuals as citizens. The law discriminates against “Cherokee citizens of Freedmen descent who may be tried in state court with other non-tribal members,” Axios writes.
In 2020, a Supreme Court ruling expanded the Indigenous reservation in eastern Oklahoma, barring state authorities from prosecuting offenses committed by Native Americans on tribal land. According to The New York Times, some Black tribal members continue to face prosecution due to their lack of “Indian blood.”
Axios reports that the Cherokee Nation has around 15,000 enrolled citizens of Freedmen descent.
In an interview with the outlet, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said the tribe is urging Congress to overhaul the 1885 federal law centered on “Indian blood,” a racial classification.
Per Axios, in federal courts, the law is construed to require tribal citizens accused of crimes on tribal land to meet a specific “blood quantum” threshold for prosecution in federal or tribal court, rather than state court.
In 2021, the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court decreed that Freedmen are entitled to tribal citizenship, prompting the tribe to amend its Constitution to accommodate them.
“It’s about the United States respecting tribal sovereignty and, frankly, catching up with the Cherokee Nation in terms of equality for all of our citizens, including Cherokee citizens of Freedmen descent,” Hoskin said.
Hoskin stated that the Cherokee Nation, along with other tribes, will intensify its lobbying efforts in Congress to enact alterations to federal law.
READ MORE: Black Creeks Seek Tribal Citizenship Rights Recognition in Latest Court Filing
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