Hon. Michael D. Tupper is a district judge for the Twenty-First Judicial District in Oklahoma. He was appointed to the bench by former Governor Mary Fallin in 2017, filling the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Tracy Schumacher (Ret.).
The Twenty-First Judicial District includes the District Courts in Cleveland, Garvin, and McClain Counties.
Tupper began his judicial career as a special judge for the Cleveland County District Court, a position to which he was appointed on April 3, 2009. In that position, he presided over misdemeanors, arraignments, domestic violence cases, community sentencing, felony magistrate duties, guardianship of minors, small claims, landlord/tenant disputes, and civil jury trials by assignment. He was also the presiding judge for the Cleveland County Adult Drug Court Program.
Prior to his appointment, he was an attorney in the Oklahoma City law firm of Pierce, Couch, Hendrickson, Baysinger & Green, where he handled general civil defense work. Before that, Tupper worked for seven years as an assistant district attorney in Cleveland County. During his time as a prosecutor, he was tasked with prosecuting major felony crimes.
He received a B.S. in political science from Oklahoma State University in 1999. Tupper went on to complete a J.D. at the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 2002.
He was admitted to practice in Oklahoma (2002); the United States District Court for the Eastern, Northern, and Western Districts of Oklahoma; and the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Tupper was a past president of the Cleveland County Bar Association and chairperson of its Young Lawyers Division. From a civic standpoint, he served on the Board of Directors of the Among Friends Activity Center and as a member of Norman Next.
Tupper and his wife, Jennifer, a Norman school teacher, have three children. He is a member of St. Mark’s Catholic Church. When not presiding on the bench, Tupper enjoys spending time with his family, distance running, cycling, hiking, camping, sporting events, and traveling.