Walker Picks Waukesha Conservative Daniel Kelly for Wisconsin Supreme Court Print
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Written by GBP Staff   
Saturday, 23 July 2016 09:20

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Longtime Walker ally in conservative political causes against worker rights and for manufacturers will replace retiring Justice David Prosser at the end of July.


MADISON - Gov. Scott Walker has picked Daniel Kelly, a conservative Waukesha lawyer who has built a lengthy career in commercial litigation, to join the state Supreme Court.

Kelly, 52, will replace retiring Justice David Prosser when Prosser leaves the bench at the end of July. He has been an ally to Walker in the courtroom and represented state Republicans in a federal trial over a lawsuit challenging the 2010 redrawing of legislative districts. Kelly has ties to the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which has helped defend Act 10, Walker’s legislation that all but eliminated collective bargaining powers for most public employees.

“You have a nice mix of different perspectives and different backgrounds,” Walker said of the justices’ backgrounds. “The extensive experience that attorney Kelly has both in the court of appeals process and before the Wisconsin State Supreme Court, as well as work at the federal level, (makes him) very well-positioned.”

Kelly’s career was spent defending clients that were mostly “manufacturers, developers, investors, regional/national/worldwide financial institutions, professional services corporations and technology companies,” he said in his application for the Supreme Court appointment.

Kelly also faced questions Friday about opinions he published comparing affirmative action to slavery in moral principle and decrying the legalization of same-sex marriage.

This spring, Kelly was a reference for Walker’s most recent Supreme Court selection, Justice Rebecca Bradley, and helped with her recent campaign against state appeals court judge JoAnne Kloppenburg.

Kelly was a lawyer for 15 years with Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science and Spanish from Carroll University and his law degree from Regent University in Virginia, the college founded by televangelist Pat Robertson that bills itself as a “global center for Christian thought and action.”

Based upon his views and record, there is little to indicate Kelly will be any more independent of Republican control than other Walker appointees.

Last Updated on Saturday, 23 July 2016 10:48