Gorsuch Queries Favor Tribe in High-Stakes Reservation Case (2)

Questions asked by Justice Neil Gorsuch during a U.S. Supreme Court argument suggest he’s skeptical of Oklahoma’s stance against a criminal defendant in a hugely consequential case implicating the status of American Indian lands.

He made those inquiries on Monday at the outset of the high court’s second week of hearing arguments by phone, livestreamed to a listening public.

If Gorsuch is poised to cast a tie-breaking vote in the dispute, then the viewpoint of President Donald Trump’s first Supreme Court appointee could lead to a monumental ruling impacting both criminal and civil law in the eastern half of Oklahoma. ...