A 2020 Supreme Court ruling affirmed that nearly half of Oklahoma remains tribal land

Tribal courts handle justice on reservations, but face strict limits on whom they can prosecute

Reservation-based courts handle civil and criminal cases, but federal law sharply limits their authority over non-tribal members. As a result, non-Native individuals who commit crimes on reservations often fall outside tribal jurisdiction, creating potential gaps in accountability.

In the 1950s, the federal government tried to dissolve tribal nations and end their sovereignty

A federal policy called "termination" withdrew official recognition from more than 100 tribes in the 1950s, cutting off federal services and subjecting reservation land to state taxes and sale.

The US has 575 federally recognized tribal nations, each a sovereign government

Tribal governments are sovereign, with authority to pass laws, run courts, and levy taxes on their lands. Unlike cities or counties, they are not created by states. Their sovereignty predates the United States itself and is recognized in the Constitution, treaties, and federal law.

Some tribes push for national parks to be under Indigenous control

Ojibwe author and academic David Treuer talks about his push for 80 million acres of American national park land to be returned to Indigenous stewards. Treuer proposes the government grant control of this land to a consortium of tribes, which would maintain and manage it for use by all Americans.

Native Americans built democratic systems of governance

Indigenous nations, such as the Muscogee, a confederacy of towns in the present-day Southeast, practiced participatory governance centered on communal decision-making and the consent of the governed.

A 1990 law forced museums and federal agencies to return Native remains and sacred objects

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act required federally funded institutions to inventory and return Native American human remains and sacred items to descendant tribes.

The Trail of Tears killed thousands of Native Americans forced from their homelands

After the Indian Removal Act passed, the US Army marched the Cherokee and other nations hundreds of miles to the designated "Indian Territory" in present-day Oklahoma. Thousands died from starvation and disease along the way.

This American Life explored Ohio's gerrymandering battle

In 2022, Ohio lawmakers repeatedly drew congressional districts that the state Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional. This defiance violated a voter-approved reform intended to prohibit partisan gerrymandering.

Employment Division v. Smith (1990) reaffirmed the Reynolds decision that the law applies to everyone, regardless of faith

The Supreme Court ruled that the government does not have to grant religious exemptions from laws that apply to everyone. The case involved Native American church members fired for using peyote in a religious ceremony.

A 2013 Supreme Court case weakened federal oversight of redistricting

In Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court struck down the Voting Rights Act's preclearance formula, reducing federal oversight of voting laws—including redistricting—and allowing changes to take effect without prior approval.

Gibbons v. Ogden expanded federal power over interstate commerce

In 1824, the Supreme Court unanimously invalidated a New York steamboat monopoly, ruling that navigation between states constitutes interstate commerce. Chief Justice John Marshall held that Congress has authority over such commerce and that conflicting state laws are void under the supremacy clause.

Courts have blocked the Trump administration's 2025 executive order limiting birthright citizenship

In June 2025, the Supreme Court declined to rule on the constitutionality of the order. Since then, two federal appellate courts have found the order unconstitutional, halting its enforcement nationwide.

A tense standoff with the Teton Sioux nearly ended the expedition

In 1804, the Teton Sioux seized a Corps of Discovery boat during a Missouri River meeting, sparking a dangerous standoff. The conflict eased only after careful diplomacy.

All states did not require a unanimous jury verdict to convict until a 2020 Supreme Court case

In Ramos v. Louisiana, the court ruled that the Sixth Amendment requires unanimous jury verdicts to convict in criminal cases, overturning laws in Louisiana and Oregon that had allowed convictions with only 10 of 12 jurors in agreement.

The 10th Amendment affirms that most undelegated powers remain with the states

Adopted to reassure skeptics of an overly powerful federal government, the amendment was meant to curb federal overreach and preserve state control over most everyday governance decisions.

'All My Relations' is a podcast by 2 Native women exploring what it means to be Indigenous today

Hosted by Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip) and Temryss Lane (Lummi Nation), the show explores topics ranging from sovereignty and identity to food, fashion, and climate justice from a personal Indigenous lens.

Uncovering corruption in rural Mississippi

In 1997, Curtis Flowers was convicted of murdering four furniture store employees. The Black Mississippi native was tried in the 1996 crime six times over 21 years, during which he maintained his innocence and continued to appeal his case. This is the first episode in a 2018 investigative podcast series that heavily contributed to Flowers' conviction being overturned and all charges dropped.

The Satanic Temple has protested the presence of the Ten Commandments at state capitols

After Oklahoma and Arkansas put up Ten Commandments monuments on their state capitol grounds, the Satanic Temple argued that if one religion's symbols are allowed, theirs should be, too. The temple asked for permission to install a bronze statue of the goat-headed figure Baphomet next to them.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

'Black Wall Street': the affluent neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Black-owned businesses once thrived

A white mob destroyed Black Wall Street in 1921. America also had other "Black Wall Street" neighborhoods in places like Richmond, Virginia.

In 1927, Oklahoma’s governor was criticized for his associations with yoga

Governor Henry Johnston was already dealing with criticism regarding his administration. When it was revealed that he'd attended a lecture on “Divine Yoga,” given by Deva Ram Sukul, a traveling guru, his opponents leaped at the opportunity to use Johnston's budding interest in non-Western traditions (and, in some cases, the occult) against him.

Not all speech in the United States is protected

This page explains the categories of speech—including defamation, incitement, true threats, fraud, and obscenity—the Supreme Court has placed outside First Amendment protection and how courts determine which standard to apply when speech is challenged.

The Compromise of 1850 tried to settle disputes over land gained from Mexico

Territory acquired in the Mexican-American War reignited fierce debates over slavery’s expansion. The Compromise of 1850 aimed to ease tensions by admitting California as a free state and letting other territories decide the issue—but the compromise ultimately failed and helped pave the way to the Civil War.

The Sooner Schooner is Oklahoma’s signature touchdown celebration

Since 1964, Oklahoma’s ponies, Boomer and Sooner, have pulled the Sooner Schooner—a Conestoga wagon replica—onto the field after scores, celebrating the university’s pioneer heritage.

Renaming the peak of the Great Smoky Mountains

After two years, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians' petition to rename Clingmans Dome, the highest point in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, finally succeeded. In 2023, the peak's title officially returned to its original Indigenous name, Kuwohi, which means "the mulberry place." Read to learn more about the mountain's significance as a sacred site for the Cherokee people, who have used the area for prayer, reflection, and gathering mulberries for medicinal purposes.

Opioid epidemic 101: lawsuits and settlements

State and local governments trying to address the opioid epidemic have sued organizations they believe started and supported the crisis. Companies that made, distributed, or contributed to sales of the highly addictive painkillers are expected to pay more than $50B in settlements. These settlements specifically state that at least 85% of settlement funds must be spent on addressing the epidemic, though where exactly the money is going is unclear.

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

44% of Americans say they pray at least once a day—discover how your state's religiosity stacks up against the rest of the country.

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in terms of casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'