Jane Kelly
Kelly in 2013
Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Incumbent
Assumed office April 25, 2013
Appointed by	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Michael Joseph Melloy
Personal details
Born	Jane Louise Kelly (1964-10-28)October 28, 1964 (age 61) Greencastle, Indiana, U.S.
Education	Duke University (BA) Harvard University (JD)

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

Kelly was born in 1964 inGreencastle, Indiana,^[1] to Richard and Judith C. Kelly.^[2] She graduated from Greencastle High School in 1983 as co-valedictorian.^[2] She received aBachelor of Arts degree,summa cum laude, in 1987, fromDuke University, and aJuris Doctor,cum laude, fromHarvard Law School, in 1991.^[2] She studied pediatrics for one year inNew Zealand under aFulbright Scholarship in between Duke and Harvard.^[3] Her graduating class includedBarack Obama.^[2]

After graduation, Kelly was alaw clerk forDonald J. Porter, chief judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of South Dakota inSioux Falls,South Dakota.^[4] She then clerked forDavid R. Hansen, a judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.^[4] During the 1993–94 academic year, Kelly taught as a visiting instructor at theUniversity of Illinois College of Law.^[4][5][1]

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

On January 31, 2013,PresidentBarack Obama nominated Kelly to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, to the seat vacated by JudgeMichael Joseph Melloy, who assumedsenior status on February 1, 2013.^[6] Her nomination was reported on a voice vote of theSenate 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 theSupreme Court to replace the vacancy caused by the death of JusticeAntonin Scalia.^[9][10] The conservativeJudicial Crisis Network ran ads against her to forestall the nomination.^[11]

• In July 2017, Kelly dissented when theen banc Eighth Circuit found, by a vote of 7–2, that theNational Labor Relations Act did not protectJimmy John's employees from being fired for putting upIndustrial Workers of the World posters seekingsick leave.^[12]

• 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]

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]

• Barack Obama Supreme Court candidates

• Jane L. Kelly at theBiographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of theFederal Judicial Center.
• Jane Kelly atBallotpedia

• 1964 births
• 21st-century American women judges
• Duke University alumni
• Harvard Law School alumni
• Iowa lawyers
• Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Living people
• People from Greencastle, Indiana
• People from Sioux Falls, South Dakota
• Public defenders
• United States court of appeals judges appointed by Barack Obama
• University of Illinois faculty

• CS1 maint: archived copy as title
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• FJC Bio template with ID same as Wikidata
• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges