Oklahoma AG paid D.C. firm $200,000 for help on Creek case

Attorney General Mike Hunter’s office spent just over $200,000 for outside legal help this year on a high-stakes case before the U.S. Supreme Court regarding Muscogee (Creek) Nation land in eastern Oklahoma.

The state attorney handling the case authorized the contract with the Washington, D.C., firm Arnold & Porter, which has now been paid nearly $800,000 by the state for its work on two related cases involving the Creek reservation.

In an internal memo provided to The Oklahoman, Hunter’s solicitor general, Mithun Mansinghani, said he negotiated a deeply discounted flat fee for the input of Arnold & Porter on the case that was argued last month before the U.S. Supreme Court. The state paid $190,000 for legal fees and $11,600 in expenses, according to the attorney general's office.

The case could determine whether the Muscogee (Creek) Nation still has a reservation in eastern Oklahoma. The decision, expected this summer, would likely apply to the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole Nations. The Five Tribes' reservations comprised most of eastern Oklahoma before statehood in 1907.

The U.S. Supreme Court failed to reach a decision in 2019 on the question of the Creek reservation status, resulting in justices taking up a nearly identical case to try again.

Both cases involve Native American prison inmates claiming they were wrongfully tried in Oklahoma state courts because their crimes were committed on the Creek reservation. The current case was filed by child rapist Jimcy McGirt; the prior case was filed by death row inmate Patrick Murphy.

The state of Oklahoma has argued that the Creek reservation was disestablished by Congress before statehood and that the inmates were properly tried in state courts. The state has also warned that a ruling that the Creek reservation still exists could result in scores of criminal cases being overturned and raise broad questions about civil jurisdiction and taxation.

McGirt and the tribes supporting his argument contend the state is exaggerating the implications of a ruling that the reservation still exists. And, they say, whatever issues arise can be resolved among the parties or by Congress.

According to Mansinghani, Arnold & Porter billed 920 hours of work on the McGirt case, which would have amounted to $840,353 in attorneys’ fees at the market rate.

“This means that the $190,000 in fees actually paid by the State yielded a 77% discount from market rate,” Mansinghani said.

“By comparison, the contracts negotiated in Murphy (which agreed to $540,000 in attorneys’ fees) yielded a 75% discount from market rate."

The state paid about $48,000 in expenses on top of the $540,000 in legal fees in the Murphy case.

In the Murphy case, an attorney with Arnold & Porter presented the state's side in oral arguments. In the McGirt case, Mansinghani argued for the state.

"Throughout this litigation, four attorneys with our Office, including myself, have worked closely with Arnold & Porter to present the best possible case before the U.S. Supreme Court," Mansinghani said in his recent memo. "All contracted work on the case is likely complete, pending further action from the U.S. Supreme Court.”