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Jane L. Kelly

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Jane Kelly
Kelly in 2013
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Incumbent
Assumed office
April 25, 2013
Appointed byBarack Obama
Preceded byMichael Joseph Melloy
Personal details
Born
Jane Louise Kelly

(1964-10-28) October 28, 1964 (age 60)
Greencastle, Indiana, U.S.
EducationDuke University (BA)
Harvard University (JD)

Jane Louise Kelly (born October 28, 1964) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Early life and education

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Kelly was born in 1964 in Greencastle, Indiana,[1] to Richard and Judith C. Kelly.[2] She graduated from Greencastle High School in 1983 as co-valedictorian.[2] She received a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, in 1987, from Duke University, and a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Harvard Law School, in 1991.[2] She studied pediatrics for one year in New Zealand under a Fulbright Scholarship in between Duke and Harvard.[3] Her graduating class included Barack Obama.[2]

Career

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After graduation, Kelly was a law clerk for Donald J. Porter, chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.[4] She then clerked for David R. Hansen, a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.[4] During the 1993–94 academic year, Kelly taught as a visiting instructor at the University of Illinois College of Law.[4][5][1]

In 1994, Kelly became an assistant federal public defender in the Northern District of Iowa. From 1999 to 2013, she served as the supervising attorney in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa office.[6][7][1]

Federal judicial service

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On January 31, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated Kelly to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, to the seat vacated by Judge Michael Joseph Melloy, who assumed senior status on February 1, 2013.[6] Her nomination was reported on a voice vote of the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 22. The Senate confirmed Kelly by a 96–0 vote on April 24.[8] She received her commission on April 25.[1]

In March 2016, Kelly was reported to be a potential nominee for the Supreme Court to replace the vacancy caused by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.[9][10] The conservative Judicial Crisis Network ran ads against her to forestall the nomination.[11]

Notable cases

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  • On August 23, 2019, Kelly dissented when the Eighth Circuit ruled in favor of a religious exemption from a state's anti-discrimination law.[13]
  • Five days before Election Day 2020, the 8th circuit ruled that all Minnesota ballots received after Election Day should be set aside, leaving it to the district court whether those ballots should be thrown out. Kelly strongly dissented, noting that Minnesota voters had already been informed that ballots received by Election Day could be counted as long as they were postmarked by Election Day.[14] As state officials urged voters to turn in ballots sooner rather than later as a result of this ruling, only 2,447 ballots arrived after Election Day, causing the plaintiffs to drop their case.[15]
  • Kelly authored a June 9, 2021, order that blocked part of a Missouri abortion law that would ban abortion after 8 weeks.[16][17]

Personal life

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In 2004, Kelly was attacked while jogging in a park in Cedar Rapids, brutally beaten and left barely conscious; her assailant was never identified.[9][18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Kelly, Jane Louise". History of the Federal Judiciary. Federal Judicial Center.
  2. ^ a b c d Bernsee, Eric (February 15, 2016). "Greencastle native in line to be Justice Scalia successor?". Banner Graphic. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  3. ^ Hopson, Thomas (March 7, 2016). "Potential nominee: Judge Jane Kelly, former public defender". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c Lynch, James Q. (January 31, 2013). "Cedar Rapids attorney Jane Kelly nominated to federal appeals court". The Gazette.
  5. ^ "Jane Kelly Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  6. ^ a b "President Obama Nominates Two to Serve on the US Court of Appeals". White House Office of the Press Secretary. January 31, 2013.
  7. ^ "Senate Judiciary Committee Nomination Questionnaire" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-02-23. Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  8. ^ "On the Nomination (Confirmation Jane Kelly, of Iowa, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit)". United States Senate.
  9. ^ a b Hirschfield Davis, Julie (2 March 2016). "White House Said to Be Vetting Iowa Judge for Supreme Court Seat". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  10. ^ "Here are judges the White House is considering for the Supreme Court". Washington Post. March 7, 2016.
  11. ^ "Ketanji Brown Jackson and the job of a public defender". 27 February 2022.
  12. ^ Note, Recent Case: Eighth Circuit Holds Employee Organizing Activity Unprotected for Disloyalty Despite Lack of “Malicious Motive”, 131 Harv. L. Rev. 1820 (2018).
  13. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2019-10-15. Retrieved 2019-12-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ^ "James Carson; Eric Lucero v. Steve Simon" (PDF). ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov. October 29, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
  15. ^ "Minnesota received just 2,447 mail ballots after Election Day". MSN. November 13, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
  16. ^ "Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, Inc., et al v. Governor Michael L. Parson, et al" (PDF). s3.documentcloud.org. June 9, 2021. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
  17. ^ "Federal appeals court blocks Missouri abortion restrictions". Jurist. June 10, 2021. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
  18. ^ "Public defender attacked while jogging in C.R.", The Courier (June 30, 2004).
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Legal offices
Preceded by Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
2013–present 		Incumbent
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