Walker taps attorney Daniel Kelly to serve on Supreme Court

Gov. Scott Walker announced Friday that he would appoint Milwaukee attorney Daniel Kelly to the state Supreme Court, filling the vacancy created by Justice David Prosser's retirement at the end of the month.

The announcement was made at an afternoon event at the Capitol, with Chief Justice Patience Roggensack and Walker. Roggensack said she was “very pleased” with the appointment, and Walker hailed Kelly as a “man of integrity.”

Walker went on to say he appointed Kelly because he did not want an activist, from either the right or the left, to allow partisan politics to influence the state Supreme Court.

“I don’t want someone who comes in with preconceived notions, as opposed to saying here's the Constitution of this great state, here's the Constitution of this country, and what is the law and how do the facts apply to the case," Walker said.

Kelly said he was both humbled and honored by the appointment to the state Supreme Court.

“I look forward to taking the oath of this office, in which I will promise to you and all of Wisconsin that I will faithfully apply the Constitution of this great state and of our country with the absolute best of my ability,” Kelly said.

Kelly, who has had an 18-year legal career but no judicial experience, beat out two veteran jurists, District Two Appeals Court Justice Mark Gundrum and District Three Appeals Court Justice Thomas Hruz.

The 52-year-old lawyer founded the Rogahn Kelly law firm in Milwaukee and has served as president of the Milwaukee chapter of the Federalist Society. He also advised Justice Rebecca Bradley during her victorious election campaign against JoAnne Kloppenburg in April.

He drew fire earlier this week when the Isthmus reported that Kelly likened affirmative action to slavery in a 2014 book, a writing Kelly used in his application for the Supreme Court appointment.

“Affirmative action and slavery differ, obviously, in significant ways," Kelly wrote. "But it's more a question of degree than principle, for they both spring from the same taproot. Neither can exist without the foundational principle that it is acceptable to force someone into an unwanted economic relationship. Morally, and as a matter of law, they are the same."

Kelly’s appointment will not need to be confirmed by the state Senate. He will serve until 2020, at which point an election will be held.

Prosser announced earlier this year that he will retire, effectively July 31. He has spent almost 18 years on the state’s highest court.