William Perry Copple
Appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 and confirmed by voice vote, William Perry Copple was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. He earned a law degree from University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 1951. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1916–2000
- Appointed by
- Lyndon B. Johnson, 1966
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of California, Berkeley 1948 · University of California, Berkeley, Law 1951
- Succeeded by
- Paul Gerhardt Rosenblatt
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | District of Arizona | L.B. Johnson (D) | 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
| Long Beach Junior College (now Long Beach City College) | A.A. | 1934 |
| University of California, Berkeley | B.A. | 1948 |
| University of California, Berkeley, School of Law | J.D. | 1951 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Copple was assigned 447 district-court cases (1985–1998). Median time from filing to termination: 266 days across 447 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, Copple authored 62 published opinions for the court (1969–1992). Most cited: Bowen v. Eyman (38 citations).
A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.
Recent & notable rulings
| Year | Case | Citation | Cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Bowen v. Eyman | 324 F. Supp. 339 | 38 |
| 1991 | Resolution Trust Corp. v. Olson | 768 F. Supp. 283 | 35 |
| 1973 | Motorola, Inc. v. Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corp. | 366 F. Supp. 1173 | 35 |
| 1975 | Dunlop v. First National Bank of Arizona | 399 F. Supp. 855 | 28 |
| 1977 | Hamberlin v. VIP Insurance Trust | 434 F. Supp. 1196 | 23 |
| 1974 | Brennan Petroleum P. Co., Inc. v. Pasco Petroleum Co., Inc. | 373 F. Supp. 1312 | 23 |
| 1974 | Greenway v. Information Dynamics, Ltd. | 399 F. Supp. 1092 | 22 |
| 1975 | Attwood v. Purcell | 402 F. Supp. 231 | 20 |
| 1970 | United States v. First National Bank of Arizona | 348 F. Supp. 388 | 18 |
| 1981 | Meyerson v. State of Ariz. | 507 F. Supp. 859 | 16 |
| 1978 | Sekaquaptewa v. MacDonald | 448 F. Supp. 1183 | 15 |
| 1975 | Securities & Exchange Commission v. Heritage Trust Co. | 402 F. Supp. 744 | 15 |
| 1973 | Lisner v. McCanless | 356 F. Supp. 398 | 14 |
| 1978 | AMF Head Sports Wear, Inc. v. Ray Scott's All-American Sports Club, Inc. | 448 F. Supp. 222 | 13 |
| 1976 | Kenly v. Miracle Properties | 412 F. Supp. 1072 | 12 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 62 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 William Perry Copple?
- President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed William Perry Copple to the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in 1966.
- Was William Perry Copple appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- William Perry Copple was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was William Perry Copple's confirmation vote?
- William Perry Copple was confirmed by voice vote on October 20, 1966. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was William Perry Copple on?
- William Perry Copple was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- 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.
33 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).