“In the dying days of the Biden Administration, the solicitor general at the Department of Interior issued a shameful and cowardly ruling that inaccurately and wrongly interprets the Cherokee Nation’s treaties. The solicitor’s opinion is unsupported by law and history, and is offensive to the Cherokee people.

“Tribes and lawmakers alike should be deeply alarmed by a federal lawyer rewriting generations of historical and legal precedent with a stroke of his pen. We plan to ask the courts to correct this wrong interpretation and to follow the well-established historic and legal precedent.

“But the truth remains: the Cherokee Nation has sovereign authority and exclusive tribal jurisdiction over our 7,000 square-mile Reservation in Oklahoma. We look forward to working with the members of our congressional delegation to ensure this ill-advised opinion is not implemented.”

Chuck Hoskin Jr.
Principal Chief

Complete statement from Chief Hoskin on the DOI Solicitor Opinion issued Jan. 17

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Following the issuing of an opinion from the Department of the Interior’s Solicitor regarding the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. issued the following statement:

“Today’s opinion from the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior is an affront to Cherokee Nation’s sovereignty, treaty rights, and established legal precedent. His opinion is unsupported by law and history. In fact, as the Cherokee Nation demonstrated in its submissions to the Department, applicable law and the Nation’s history dictate a completely opposite outcome. The Solicitor has chosen to ignore Acts of Congress regarding the status of Cherokee Nation, rulings of the Supreme Court on treaty interpretation, and other federal courts holding that the Cherokee Nation of today is the Cherokee Nation that entered into treaties with the United States. Indian tribes and lawmakers alike should be deeply alarmed by this opinion of a federal lawyer re-writing generations of tribal sovereignty and historical and legal precedent with a stroke of his pen. 

“Experts, history, and the law agree, the Cherokee Nation that exists today has maintained a continuous government to government relationship with the United States since the union was founded. There is nothing — in the historical record, statutes, legislative history, court decisions, or elsewhere — that would entitle the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians (UKB) or any other tribe to the Cherokee Nation’s treaties or reservation. 

“Moreover, the entirety of the United States government acknowledges the Cherokee Nation Reservation is Cherokee Nation’s through its treaty rights, and that Cherokee Nation holds jurisdiction over the 7,000 square-mile reservation. This unfounded, careless opinion will quickly spawn jurisdictional conflict and uncertainty — if not chaos — directly into the middle of the enormous efforts the Nation has undertaken to ensure public safety on its Reservation following the Supreme Court’s watershed decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma.

“Today’s DOI opinion, in addition to being detached from the facts and the law, is unfortunately history repeating itself. This marks the second time in the last twenty years that the DOI has been wildly wrong on this subject. On the previous occasion the DOI quickly reversed itself, which is the only acceptable action here.

“We call on the incoming Administration to withdraw this opinion post haste and to follow instead the well-established historic and legal precedent. DOI’s failure to reverse its destructive decision will be met with swift and determined action by the Cherokee Nation.

“We are reviewing the Solicitor’s opinion to determine our next steps. Rest assured, however, the Cherokee Nation is prepared to take any and all lawful actions necessary to protect its exclusive tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction over the Cherokee Nation Reservation, to protect our treaty rights, and to protect our citizens and public safety. The Department of the Interior has no authority to “share” or otherwise carve up and transfer a portion of Cherokee Nation’s sovereignty, treaty rights, and jurisdiction to UKB or any other Indian tribe.

“We know UKB will continue to misinterpret the law and misrepresent its own and the history of the Cherokee Nation. But the truth remains: the Cherokee Nation has sovereign authority and exclusive tribal jurisdiction over our 7,000 square-mile Reservation in Oklahoma. We look forward to working with the members of our congressional delegation to ensure this ill-advised opinion is not implemented.”

Additional Background:

• The Cherokee Nation is the largest tribe in the U.S. with more than 470,000 citizens living in all 50 states.
• In the 19th century, Cherokee Nation and the United States established through treaties Cherokee Nation’s sovereign authority and exclusive tribal jurisdiction over the Nation’s 7,000 square-mile Reservation in present-day northeast Oklahoma.
• Cherokee Nation maintains exclusive jurisdiction over its Reservation and has a $3 billion annual impact on the region.
• The UKB became an Indian tribe nearly 85 years after the last treaty between the United States and the Cherokee Nation was signed in 1866. There was no UKB before 1950. The UKB therefore has no rights or claims under Cherokee Nation’s treaties. 
• The federal-tribal relationships between the United States and federally-recognized Indian tribes are each unique in that the particular legal rights and sovereign powers retained by any tribe are specific to that tribe, and are defined under  treaties (if any) the tribe entered into with the United States and under relevant congressional enactments, executive orders, and decisions of the federal courts. 

For additional information on the Department’s decision and UKB’s threats to Cherokee Nation’s sovereignty, visit cherokeefacts.com.