In a legal showdown that has been building for years, two descendants of people once enslaved by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation filed a federal lawsuit in Oklahoma City on July 23, 2026, asking a judge to force tribal leaders to issue citizenship cards the tribe’s own high court ordered last year. The case turns up the heat on a long-running fight over the 1866 treaty and the century-old Dawes Rolls, which the plaintiffs say could clear a path to tribal membership for thousands of people.
The complaint, filed on behalf of Rhonda Grayson and Jeffrey Kennedy, names Principal Chief David Hill and the Muscogee Nation Citizenship Board as defendants, according to The Associated Press. It alleges that Hill and the board are violating Article II of the 1866 treaty by refusing to recognize Black Creek Freedmen as citizens and that withholding citizenship cards denies the pair the “right to vote and the ability to participate fully as members of the Nation,” the filing states. Grayson and Kennedy are asking the federal court to enforce the Muscogee Supreme Court’s directive and order immediate issuance of membership identification.
What The Tribal Court Ordered
In July 2025 the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Supreme Court remanded the case and directed the Citizenship Board to apply the Treaty of 1866 and issue citizenship to anyone who can trace an ancestor to either the Creek By Blood Dawes Roll or the Creek Freedmen Dawes Roll, as detailed by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Supreme Court. The ruling found that references to “by-blood” membership requirements were unlawful and sent applications back to the board for action, a decision that advocates hailed as historic and that critics said would be politically explosive.
Chief Hit Pause On Card Issuance
After the high court's decision, Principal Chief David Hill issued an executive order in August 2025 that told the citizenship office to keep accepting applications yet not issue membership identification until tribal law and policy had been reviewed, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office. That pause has left Grayson, Kennedy and other Freedmen descendants waiting in limbo for paperwork the Supreme Court said should follow the ruling.
History Behind The Dispute
The fight reaches back to the post–Civil War Treaty of 1866, which abolished slavery among the Five Tribes and guaranteed citizenship to formerly enslaved people and their descendants. When federal agents compiled the Dawes Rolls around 1900, many individuals were recorded in separate categories as “By Blood” or “Freedmen.” That split has helped fuel decades of litigation and political tension inside the Muscogee Nation, as reporting by KGOU shows.
Voices And Stakes
"Every day of non-compliance is another day that Black Creek Freedman are denied our birthright and our very identity as citizens," Rhonda Grayson said, according to The Associated Press. Attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons, who represents Grayson and Kennedy, told reporters there are about 100,000 Black Creek descendants across the United States, a figure he says shows how much is at stake if the Muscogee Nation fully follows through on its own court’s decision.
Legal Questions Ahead
The federal lawsuit drops the issue into a legal thicket of treaty enforcement and tribal sovereignty that could test how far a U.S. court is willing to go to back up a tribal high-court ruling. Previous successful legal challenges against two of the Five Tribes led to enrollment changes in the Seminole Nation and the Cherokee Nation, a development noted in a review by the Government Accountability Office.
The newly filed complaint hands the issue back to a federal judge and keeps the spotlight firmly on how the Five Tribes reconcile historic treaty promises with modern enrollment rules. Legal observers and residents say the dispute has split Muscogee politics and could reshape governance in Okmulgee and beyond, as reporting by Public Radio Tulsa has shown.
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