Michael R. Murphy
How Judge Murphy rules, drawn from 44 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Murphy
Michael R. Murphy is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Appointed by President William J. Clinton, Judge Murphy received a commission on August 14, 1995. Judge Murphy assumed senior status on December 31, 2012.
Judge Murphy's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Murphy's own (checked October 11, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 11, 2026).
How Judge Murphy decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In McCane’s suppression appeal, he applied the good-faith exception after officers relied on settled circuit law that the Supreme Court later displaced, and affirmed denial of the motion to suppress.
“it would be proper for this court to apply the good-faith exception to a search justified under the settled case law of a United States Court of Appeals, but later rendered unconstitutional by a Supreme Court decision.”
In Efagene’s removal case, he rejected the agency’s moral-turpitude interpretation in part because it conflicted with the agency’s longstanding treatment of regulatory offenses.
“The Tobar-Lobo interpretation of moral turpitude is, moreover, at odds with the BIA’s own longstanding precedent.”
Procedural preferences
In Moore v. Schoeman, he read the habeas statute as permitting denial of an application as a whole, rather than piecemeal denial of individual claims.
“The plain and unambiguous language of this statute refers to the denial of ‘an application for a writ of habeas corpus’ rather than to denial of claims contained within the application resulting only in a partial denial on the merits.”
Cautions
In Yes on Term Limits v. Savage, he found that the record did not justify Oklahoma’s blanket ban on nonresident petition circulators.
“Because the record contains insufficient evidence to conclude that non-residents, as a class, threaten the integrity or reliability of the initiative process, Oklahoma has failed to prove that banning all non-resident circulators is a narrowly tailored means of meeting its compelling interest.”
In Efagene’s removal case, he held that Colorado’s misdemeanor failure-to-register offense was a regulatory omission and was not categorically a crime involving moral turpitude.
“Failing to register as a sex offender is analogous not to child and spousal abuse, but rather to other crimes of omission concerning filing, reporting, and licensing requirements, which are regulatory offenses.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“This court exercises jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirms.”
“this court reverses the order of disgorgement and remands to the district court for further proceedings.”
“This court concludes the district court improperly ruled that certain of Plaintiff’s expressions relating to racial equity within the school district were not protected under the First Amendment for purposes of Plaintiff’s civil rights and retaliatory discharge claims. We affirm on all other issues.”
“Although we conclude the warrant was not supported by probable cause, we affirm the district court’s denial of the motion to suppress based on the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule.”
“This court REVERSES the summary judgment and VACATES as moot the order on attorney’s fees.”
“Because this court determines such detention to be statutorily authorized ... we reverse.”
“affirms the denial of habeas relief as to those issues relating to the guilt phase of Thomas’ trial, reverses the denial of habeas relief as to Thomas’ sentence of death, and remands to the district court to grant the writ consistent with this opinion.”
“Although this court concludes the affidavit in support of the search warrant was not sufficient to establish probable cause, we exercise jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm the district court’s denial of the motion to suppress based on the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule.”
“this court affirms the district court’s grant of Defendants’ motion for summary judgment.”
“The judgment of the district court is therefore reversed.”
“Because Defendant has not demonstrated reversible error, this court affirms his convictions.”
“Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, this court affirms in part, reverses in part, and remands.”
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