United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal criminal prosecutor in their judicial district and represents the U.S. federal government in civil litigation in federal and state court within their geographic jurisdiction. U.S. attorneys must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate,after which they serve four-year terms.
Francis Anthony Keating II is an American attorney and politician who served as the 25th governor of Oklahoma from 1995 to 2003.
Skinner v. State of Oklahoma,ex rel. Williamson,316 U.S. 535 (1942),was a unanimous United States Supreme Court ruling that held that laws permitting the compulsory sterilization of criminals are unconstitutional as it violates a person's rights given under the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution,specifically the Equal Protection Clause,as well as the Due Process Clause. The relevant Oklahoma law applied to "habitual criminals",but the law excluded white-collar crimes from carrying sterilization penalties.
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma is a federal court in the Tenth Circuit.
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma is a federal court in the Tenth Circuit.
Thompson v. Oklahoma,487 U.S. 815 (1988),was the first case since the moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in the United States in which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of a minor on grounds of "cruel and unusual punishment." The holding in Thompson was expanded on by Roper v. Simmons (2005),where the Supreme Court extended the "evolving standards" rationale to those under 18 years old.
The Attorney General of Oklahoma is the State Attorney General for the state of Oklahoma. The attorney general serves as the chief legal and law enforcement officer of the State of Oklahoma and head of the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General. The attorney general is responsible for providing legal advice to the other departments and agencies of the executive branch,legislative branch and judicial branch of the state government. The attorney general is also responsible for the prosecution of offenses against Oklahoma law and advocate for the basic legal rights of Oklahoma residents.
Stephen Jones,is an attorney who took on a series of high-profile civil rights cases beginning with his defense of a Vietnam War protester. Jones later represented Timothy McVeigh,and then the fraternity involved in the 2015 University of Oklahoma Sigma Alpha Epsilon racism incident.
James Sanford Davenport was a U.S. Representative from Oklahoma and a member of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. He served on the Congressional committee that created the first roads and highways committee in the U.S. House.
Cooper v. Oklahoma,517 U.S. 348 (1996),was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court reversed an Oklahoma court decision holding that a defendant is presumed to be competent to stand trial unless he proves otherwise by the second highest legal standard of proof,that of clear and convincing evidence,ruling that to be unconstitutional. The court said the defendant's Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process were violated.
Michael J. Hunter is an American politician from the state of Oklahoma. Hunter served as the Secretary of State of Oklahoma from 1999 to 2002,having been appointed by Governor of Oklahoma Frank Keating. On November 1,2016,he was appointed to the same post by Governor Mary Fallin. He also served as Special Counsel to the Governor. On February 20,2017,Hunter was appointed Attorney General of Oklahoma to replace Scott Pruitt who resigned to become the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. On November 8,2018,Hunter won election as Attorney General.
Sanford Charles "Sandy" Coats is the former United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.
The United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma is the chief federal law enforcement officer in forty Oklahoma counties. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma has jurisdiction over all cases prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney. Sanford Coats,who was appointed by Barack Obama in 2009 was the U.S. Attorney for the District until 2016.
Richard Eugene Glossip is an American prisoner currently on death row at Oklahoma State Penitentiary after being convicted of commissioning the 1997 murder of Barry Van Treese. The man who murdered Van Treese,Justin Sneed,had a "meth habit" and agreed to plead guilty in exchange for testifying against Glossip. Sneed received a life sentence without parole. Glossip's case has attracted international attention due to the unusual nature of his conviction,namely that there was little or no corroborating evidence,with the first case against him described as "extremely weak" by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.
Scott Lawrence Palk is an American attorney and academic. He is currently a Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. He formerly served as Assistant Dean at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
The 1936 United States Senate election in Oklahoma took place on November 3,1936. Incumbent Democratic Senator Thomas Gore ran for re-election to his second consecutive term,and fifth term overall. He ended up easily losing renomination,however;he placed a distant fourth in the Democratic primary. A runoff election between Congressman Joshua B. Lee and Governor Ernest W. Marland resulted in a landslide win for Lee. In the general election,Lee faced Republican nominee Herbert K. Hyde,whom he overwhelmingly defeated.
John Michael O'Connor is an American attorney and politician who served as the 19th attorney general of Oklahoma between 2021 and 2023. O’Connor was previously a shareholder of Hall Estill and a nominee to be a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma,the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma,and the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.
Lyons v. Oklahoma,322 U.S. 596 (1944),was a United States Supreme Court case about the beatings and subsequent coerced confessions of William Douglas Lyons,a man convicted of a triple-murder in Oklahoma. His attorneys included Thurgood Marshall.
Sharp v. Murphy,591 U.S. ___ (2020),was a Supreme Court of the United States case of whether Congress disestablished the Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation. After holding the case from the 2018 term,the case was decided on July 9,2020,in a per curiam decision following McGirt v. Oklahoma that,for the purposes of the Major Crimes Act,the reservations were never disestablished and remain Native American country.
