Richard Sheppard Arnold (March 26, 1936 – September 23, 2004) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas and the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas and then a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Richard Sheppard Arnold
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
Chief Judge — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Born 1936 in Texarkana, TX
Died 2004 in Rochester, MN
FJC ID: 61
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 38/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 847/year
Arkansas Eastern District Court · 1978–1980Arkansas Western District Court · 1978–1980Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1980–2004
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
- Judicial Conference of the United StatesMember · 1992–1998
- U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers of ArkansasLegislative assistant · 1975–1978
- Gov. Dale Bumpers, ArkansasLegislative secretary · 1973–1974
- Private practice, Texarkana, Arkansas1964–1973
- seventh Arkansas constitutional conventionDelegate · 1969–1970
- Private practice, Washington, D.C.1961–1964
Law clerk , Hon. William J. Brennan · 1960–1961
Appointments
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth CircuitChief Judge1980–2004 · Appointed by Jimmy Carter (Democratic)Term ended: Death
1978–1980 · Appointed by Jimmy Carter (Democratic)Term ended: Appointment to Another Judicial Position
1978–1980 · Appointed by Jimmy Carter (Democratic)Term ended: Appointment to Another Judicial Position
Education
LL.B. · 1960- Yale UniversityB.A. · 1957