Chief Justice Angela R. Riley of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Supreme Court urged Tribal citizens to take an active role in protecting tribal sovereignty.
She said Oklahoma tribal Nations have successfully protected and even advanced their inherent sovereignty by being forward-looking and efficiently providing much-needed government services to tribal members and even to non-Native citizens in their communities.
“Living our sovereignty, exercising our jurisdiction and providing good government is the best defense against attacks on sovereignty. I think the tribes in Oklahoma have done an amazing job at that and have set the standard for what good governance should look like,” she said. She added, “Our own Chairman Barrett has been a remarkable mentor to me over the last several decades. I think he has exemplified the model of an Indian Country leader with vision who has boldly asserted the tribal sovereignty of our Nation.”
As Oklahoma tribes face challenges on at least two fronts, from the state and federal governments, Riley believes Indigenous Nations stand on firm legal ground.
“Our sovereignty is our inherent right, and it’s protected. It’s embedded in hundreds of years of treaties and statutes and even the Constitution. We have a very strong legal foundation upon which to assert our rights to self-govern, including the right of self-determination set out in the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” Riley said, “We will just keep going back to those core foundational principles again and again when our sovereignty is under attack.”
Challenges from state leaders
Riley is aware of the tension between Oklahoma’s tribal Nations and the state’s governor. Since taking office in 2018, Gov. Kevin Stitt has challenged tribes on compact negotiations for gaming, tobacco, tribal tags, turnpike fees, the reach of state law enforcement (McGirt v Oklahoma) and even sports betting.
Stitt’s court challenges have been mostly unsuccessful, and tribes have provided more than $23 billion in economic impact in the state, according to a 2025 Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association report. A large portion of tribal economies benefit the state’s rural areas.
Riley said most of those benefits are the result of tribes exercising their sovereign rights and living up to their commitments to be good neighbors and partners for the benefit of all in the state.
“Tribes’ ability to hold land in trust, exercise jurisdiction, and engage in economic development has made it possible for tribes to put into place the kinds of programs (in rural areas), that have enormously helped not just tribal citizens, but many, many people in Oklahoma,” she said.
Sovereign status empowers tribes to administer their own federal programs under public law 93-638, affecting programs for education, healthcare or resource management.
“Things like 638 contracting and other avenues of self governance are available to us because of our sovereign status. Without that, you just wouldn’t see the same level of governance coming from Indian Country,” Riley said.
The challenges from the governor’s office increased after the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court McGirt v Oklahoma decision, which held that the Muscogee Creek reservation was never legally disestablished. Much of eastern Oklahoma is now legally considered “Indian Country.”
Rather than working with tribes to implement new practices, however, the state of Oklahoma opted to sue to overturn the ruling. While declining to reverse McGirt in 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court departed from 200 years of well-settled law to hold in Oklahoma v Castro-Huerta that federal and state governments have concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed by non-Natives against Natives in Indian Country.
However, counties and tribal Nations had already established cross-jurisdictional agreements in the 1990s to allow county law enforcement to respond to emergencies on tribal land. Likewise, tribal law enforcement has the authority to respond on non-Native land.
Riley partially attributes the lack of understanding surrounding Indian Country to the fact that so few of the U.S. Supreme Court justices have interacted with Indigenous people or governments during their careers. She said many law schools do not offer Indian law to students.
The road ahead
She remains optimistic about the future of Indian law. More and more Indigenous students are choosing a legal career, and legal organizations are increasing outreach.
“There has been a marked shift in the field of Indian law, even in just the last two decades. More and more law schools – even those outside of areas with a strong tribal presence – are hiring professors with expertise in the field and bringing more students into the conversation. Prominent national law firms have growing Indian law practices to serve the needs of tribal clients,” Riley said. “Of course, law is only one avenue to advance Native rights. To continue to flourish, we need more Native people in careers across the spectrum. We’re looking to the next generation for their leadership and vision moving forward.”
She believes it will still be necessary for tribes to lead the push for change.
“Tribes will continue to be leaders and have the infrastructure and the resources to bring people in and expose people to tribal government and Indian Country. It is an education process that requires tribal participation,” she said. “There’s been a huge change in my lifetime with people having a better understanding, being more open and moving beyond some of the old, negative stereotypes and engaging more with contemporary tribal governments.”
Riley, as a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, urges any student considering a law career to pursue it. She says there are countless ways to contribute to the field, such as working in the non-profit sector, for Indian law firms, or even in-house for a tribal government.
“There is such need in Indian Country for good lawyers, and the number has grown exponentially in the last 50 years,” she said. “There are so many ways that you can make a difference.”
History shows that the law has sometimes been used to harm Native people, but Riley believes now is the time for Native Americans to use the law as a tool for good.
“I think that the law can be a powerful instrument of change and of social justice. When I was deciding whether to go to law school, one of the main reasons I made the choice was that thought I could do more to advance Native rights with a law degree,” she said. “There are countless ways to contribute in Indian Country. But, if the interest is there, I do encourage young people to pursue law if they want to have a career where they can really make a positive impact on the world.”
To learn more about Chief Justice Riley visit her UCLA faculty profile.