Morris Sheppard Arnold
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and confirmed by voice vote, Morris Sheppard Arnold is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He earned a law degree from University of Arkansas School of Law in 1968. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1941 · age 85
- Appointed by
- George H.W. Bush, 1992
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Arkansas 1965 · University of Arkansas Law 1968
- Succeeded
- Donald Pomery Lay
- Succeeded by
- Bobby E. Shepherd
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Western District of Arkansas | Reagan (R) | Voice vote |
| 1992 | Eighth Circuit succeeded Donald Pomery Lay | G.H.W. Bush (R) | Voice vote |
Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.
Confirmation vote
Voice vote
The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.
Education
| University of Arkansas | B.S.E.E. | 1965 |
| University of Arkansas School of Law | LL.B. | 1968 |
| Harvard Law School | LL.M. | 1969 |
| Harvard Law School | S.J.D. | 1971 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Arnold was assigned 460 district-court cases (1986–1992). Median time from filing to termination: 202 days across 460 closed cases.
Case assignment is from CourtListener’s PACER-derived docket records: a partial sample, not a complete caseload, reflecting the judge last assigned each case. How we count.
In our data, Arnold authored 51 published opinions for the court (1981–2008). Most cited: Bradley v. Bowen (48 citations).
Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.
Selected opinions
| Year | Case | Citation | Cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Bradley v. Bowen | 660 F. Supp. 276 | 48 |
| 1992 | Sierra Club v. Robertson | 810 F. Supp. 1021 | 22 |
| 1982 | Hillhouse v. Harris | 547 F. Supp. 88 | 22 |
| 1991 | Sierra Club v. Robertson | 784 F. Supp. 593 | 21 |
| 1987 | Ford v. Secretary of Health and Human Services | 662 F. Supp. 954 | 18 |
| 1990 | Miller v. Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation | 748 F. Supp. 695 | 14 |
| 1988 | Van Meter v. American State Bank | 89 B.R. 32 | 12 |
| 1986 | Wagner v. Hawkins | 634 F. Supp. 751 | 12 |
| 1990 | Powell v. First Nat. Bank of Nashville, Ark. | 113 B.R. 512 | 11 |
| 1983 | Burnett v. Secretary of Health & Human Services | 563 F. Supp. 789 | 11 |
| 1981 | Powell v. Schweiker | 516 F. Supp. 1001 | 9 |
| 1991 | Robertson Oil Co., Inc. v. Phillips Petroleum Co. | 779 F. Supp. 994 | 8 |
| 1991 | Sierra Club v. Robertson | 764 F. Supp. 546 | 8 |
| 1988 | First Federal Savings of Arkansas, F.A. v. City National Bank of Fort Smith | 87 B.R. 565 | 8 |
| 1988 | Casada v. Booneville School District No. 65 | 686 F. Supp. 730 | 8 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 51 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.
Questions & answers
- Who appointed Morris Sheppard Arnold?
- President George H.W. Bush appointed Morris Sheppard Arnold to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in 1992.
- Was Morris Sheppard Arnold appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Morris Sheppard Arnold was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Morris Sheppard Arnold's confirmation vote?
- Morris Sheppard Arnold was confirmed by voice vote on May 21, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Morris Sheppard Arnold on?
- Morris Sheppard Arnold is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Unknown authorUnknown author (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.
34 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).