CASE STUDIES IN EMERGENCY ELECTION LITIGATION

Federal Judicial Center 5/29/2023 1

Nullifying University Students’ 

Voter Registrations 

Copeland v. Priest 

(George Howard, Jr., E.D. Ark. 4:02-cv-675) 

An October 25, 2002, federal complaint sought the restoration of 

voter registrations for students and other persons living in university housing. The first judge assigned recused himself because he was 

out of town, and the second judge recused himself because one 

plaintiff’s father was the governor, whose opponent the judge’s wife 

supported. A third judge granted the plaintiffs relief, finding that 

the state judge’s order nullifying registrations improperly created 

“an irrebuttable presumption that would-be voters who live at a 

university address and are not members of the staff at a university 

are not residents.” The court awarded the plaintiffs $28,221.92 in 

attorney fees and costs. 

Subject: Nullifying registrations. Topics: Student registration; 

registration challenges; intervention; matters for state courts; case 

assignment; attorney fees. 

Four students at Ouachita Baptist University and another student’s wife filed 

a federal class-action complaint in the Eastern District of Arkansas on October 25, 2002, to restore to the voting rolls students and other persons living 

in university housing.1 With their complaint, the plaintiffs filed a motion for 

a temporary restraining order.2

The court assigned the case to Judge G. Thomas Eisele, but because Judge 

Eisele was to be out of town for two weeks, he recused himself, and the court 

assigned the case to Judge William R. Wilson, Jr.3 Judge Wilson, now known 

as Judge Billy Roy Wilson, also recused himself because one of the plaintiffs 

was Governor Huckabee’s daughter; the court reassigned the case to Judge 

George Howard, Jr.4

1. Complaint, Copeland v. Priest, No. 4:02-cv-675 (E.D. Ark. Oct. 25, 2002), D.E. 1; see 

Ruling Bars Student Voters, Suit Charges, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 26, 2002, at 26; Suit 

Claims Campus Local Voting Address, Akron Beacon J., Oct. 28, 2002, at A3. 

2. Temporary-Restraining-Order Motion, Copeland, No. 4:02-cv-675 (E.D. Ark. Oct. 25, 

2002), D.E. 2. 

3. Transfer Order, id. (Oct. 25, 2002), D.E. 5. 

Judge Eisele died on November 26, 2017. Federal Judicial Center Biographical Directory 

of Article III Federal Judges [hereinafter FJC Biographical Directory], www.fjc.gov/history/ 

judges. 

4. Transfer Order, Copeland, No. 4:02-cv-675 (E.D. Ark. Oct. 28, 2002), D.E. 6; see Court 

Asked to Shun Student Suit, Memphis Commercial Appeal, Oct. 29, 2002, at B6 [hereinafter 

Asked to Shun] (“U.S. Dist. Judge Bill Wilson withdrew from hearing the case because his 

wife contributed to and is active in the campaign of Jimmie Lou Fisher, Huckabee’s Democratic challenger in the Nov. 5 general election.”). 

Judge Howard died on April 21, 2007. FJC Biographical Directory, supra note 3. 
Nullifying University Students’ Voter Registrations 

2 Federal Judicial Center 5/29/2023 

On October 28, another voter filed a motion to intervene, opposing the 

complaint as the person whose state-court action resulted in the order creating the plaintiffs’ grievance.5

 An amended complaint filed that day added the 

governor as a defendant.6 The parties filed a joint stipulation of facts on the 

following day.7

On October 30, Judge Howard issued a temporary restraining order requiring election officials to restore voter registrations purged as a result of 

the state judge’s order.8 Noting that no defendant opposed the plaintiffs’ 

complaint, Judge Howard concluded that the state judge’s order improperly 

“creates an irrebuttable presumption that would-be voters who live at a university address and are not members of the staff at a university are not residents of Clark County and are therefore ineligible to vote in Clark County.”9

Judge Howard denied the motion to intervene for procedural defects.10

On November 21, 2003, Judge Howard awarded the plaintiffs $28,221.92 in 

attorney fees and costs.11

5. Intervention Motion, Copeland, No. 4:02-cv-675 (E.D. Ark. Oct. 28, 2002), D.E. 11; see

Motion That the Court Abstain from These Proceedings or, Alternatively, Motion to Dismiss for Improper Venue, id. (Oct. 28, 2002), D.E. 8; see also Asked to Shun, supra note 4. 

6. Amended Complaint, Copeland, No. 4:02-cv-675 (E.D. Ark. Oct. 28, 2002), D.E. 14; 

see Adam Liptak, With Suit, Governor’s Daughter Gets a Spotlight, N.Y. Times, Nov. 1, 2002, 

at A28. 

7. Stipulation, Copeland, No. 4:02-cv-675 (E.D. Ark. Oct. 29, 2002), D.E. 15. 

8. Temporary Restraining Order at 11, id. (Oct. 30, 2002), D.E. 18; see Liptak, supra

note 6. 

An appeal was dismissed as settled. Docket Sheet, Copeland v. Williams, No. 03-3956 

(8th Cir. May 27, 2003). 

9. Temporary Restraining Order, supra note 8, at 10. 

10. Id. at 4–6. 

11. Order, Copeland, No. 4:02-cv-675 (E.D. Ark. Nov. 21, 2003), D.E. 57.