Court ruling settles Texas-Oklahoma border fight over Red River property rights
AUSTIN, Texas - Texas has secured a court order to protect Texas land after an Oklahoma property owner attempted to claim a portion of Texas’s Red River property.
The Oklahoman argued that the Texas-Oklahoma border had shifted.
Oklahoman claims Texas land
What we know:
In August 2025, an Oklahoma property owner filed a lawsuit in Oklahoma state court seeking to "quiet title" and obtain a ruling declaring that the owner’s property included land belonging to Texas based on "alleged changes" to the lower bank of the Red River.
The lawsuit named several Texas landowners, including the State of Texas. The Motion to Dismiss was granted on March 8, 2026, and the State of Texas was removed from the lawsuit.
Welcome to Texas Sign (Photo by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The Red River Boundary Compact of 2000 vs. 1923 SCOTUS ruling
The case was dismissed on sovereign immunity grounds, arguing that the Oklahoma property owner could not sue Texas in Oklahoma state court, or anywhere else, without Texas’s consent.
Dig deeper:
The lawsuit relied on a 1923 U.S. Supreme Court opinion that identified the Texas-Oklahoma border as the lower bank of the Red River. However, the Texas Attorney General's Office states that the boundary between Texas and Oklahoma was determined by the 1999 Red River Boundary Compact between Texas and Oklahoma, which was approved by Congress in 2000.
Welcome to Oklahoma Sign (Photo by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Attorney General Ken Paxton responds to Red River rivalry case
What they're saying:
In a news release made by the Attorney General’s Office, Ken Paxton worked alongside the Texas Department of Transportation, which also utilized outside counsel to assist in filing out-of-state pleadings.
"The full force of the law will come crashing down on anyone trying to seize Texas land. I will always defend our state’s sovereignty and will not allow erroneous theories to undermine Texas’s land ownership," said Attorney General Paxton. "The Red River Rivalry may be famous on the football field, but I won’t allow that term to extend to Oklahoma property owners unlawfully seizing Texas land in the courtroom."
The Source: Information in this article was provided by the Texas Attorney General's Office.