Kirsten Frank Kelly

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Kirsten Frank Kelly

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Nonpartisan

Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals
Tenure

2001 - Present

Term ends

2025

Years in position

23

Compensation

Base salary

$186,310

Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

Michigan State University, 1978

Law

University of Detroit, Mercy School of Law, 1981

Contact

Official website

Personal website

Personal Facebook 

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Kirsten Frank Kelly is a judge of the Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals. She assumed office in 2001. Her current term ends on January 1, 2025.

Kelly ran for re-election for judge of the Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Education

Kelly received her B.A. from Michigan State University in 1978 and her J.D. from the University of Detroit School of Law in 1981.[1]

Career

Before her election to the Michigan Court of Appeals, Kelly served as a municipal judge for three terms, as a judge for the Wayne Circuit Court (3rd Circuit Court) and as a presiding judge for the Family Division of the Wayne Circuit Court.[1]

Associations

  • Michigan Association of Municipal Judges
  • Michigan District Judges Association
  • Women Lawyers of Michigan[1]

Elections

2024

See also: Michigan intermediate appellate court elections, 2024

General election

General election for Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals (2 seats)

Incumbent Kirsten Frank Kelly and incumbent Michael Riordan won election in the general election for Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Kirsten Frank Kelly (Nonpartisan)
 
58.0
 
625,407
✔
Image of Michael Riordan
Michael Riordan (Nonpartisan)
 
42.0
 
452,696

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. Source

Total votes: 1,078,103
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Nonpartisan primary election

The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Kirsten Frank Kelly and incumbent Michael Riordan advanced from the primary for Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals.

Campaign finance

Endorsements

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Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Kelly in this election.

2018

See also: Michigan intermediate appellate court elections, 2018

General election

General election for Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals (2 seats)

Incumbent Kirsten Frank Kelly and incumbent Michael Riordan won election in the general election for Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals on November 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Kirsten Frank Kelly (Nonpartisan)
 
56.1
 
572,883
✔
Image of Michael Riordan
Michael Riordan (Nonpartisan)
 
43.9
 
447,658

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 1,020,541
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Selection method

See also: Nonpartisan election of judges

The 28 judges of the Michigan Court of Appeals are chosen in nonpartisan elections and must face re-election if they wish to continue serving. A full term on the court is six years. Candidates are placed on the ballot via nonpartisan primaries or by nominating petitions.[2] The process for filling vacancies on the appeals court is identical to that used by the supreme court. With the assistance of the judicial qualifications committee, the governor names a replacement to serve until the next general election.[2]

Qualifications

To be elected to the court, a judge must:

  • be a qualified elector of his or her district;
  • be licensed to practice law in the state;
  • have at least five years of law practice experience;
  • be under the age of 70.[2]

Sitting judges who reach age 70 are allowed to serve out the remainder of their term.[3]

Selection of the chief judge

The chief judge of the appeals court is selected by supreme court appointment to terms lasting two years.[2]

2012

Kelly was re-elected to the First District Court of Appeals after running unopposed in the general election on November 6, 2012.[4]

See also: Michigan judicial elections, 2012

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Kirsten Frank Kelly did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Kirsten Frank Kelly campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* Michigan 1st District Court of AppealsWon general$0 $0
Grand total$0 $0
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

Noteworthy cases

Court rejects bid to remove judges in Kilpatrick case

According to the Detroit News, the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected a Wayne County Prosecutor's effort to remove every judge in the city's 36th District Court from overseeing proceedings in the criminal case against former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. With that ruling, the court discarded any idea of impropriety on the entire bench. In an opinion authored by Kirsten Frank Kelly, and signed by Kurtis Wilder and Christopher Murray: "That the judges of the 36th District Court may have relationships with witnesses beyond those prescribed in the court rule does not warrant recusal, in absence of showing bias (and none is alleged), because the role of the judge in a preliminary exam is not to gauge guilt or innocence, and generally does not require making credibility determinations."[5]

Court rules in favor of property owner

In a decision authored by Judge Kirsten Frank Kelly and signed by Judge Kurtis Wilder, the Michigan Court of Appeals did not uphold an Oakland County Circuit Court ruling that the tenant was solely responsible for a fire started in her apartment. Instead, the Michigan Court of Appeals held that both the tenant and her co-signer could be found "jointly and severally obligated to pay for any damage that they caused to the premises."[6]

Approach to the law

In a referendum with the Eastside Republican Club for the November 7, 2006, General Election, Kelly recognized her role as judge. Kelly articulated a philosophy of judicial restraint, stating: "We are bound by legislation and precedents the Supreme Court gives us." She said the role of a Michigan judge is to apply the law without creating new law. Kelly emphasized: "Policy decisions do not belong to the judicial branch."[7]


See also

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External links

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Officeholder

Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals

  • Website
    		•

    Personal

  • Website
  • Facebook
    		•

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Michigan Courts.gov, "Kristen Frank Kelly," accessed July 5, 2014
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Michigan," archived October 2, 2014
    3. ↑ Michigan Daily, "Washtenaw County judge announces early retirement," May 1, 2014
    4. ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "General Election Results November 6, 2012: 1st District Judge of the Court of Appeals Incumbent 6 Year Terms (2) Positions," accessed July 5, 2014
    5. ↑ The Detroit News, "Appeal's Court rejects request to disqualify local judges from Kilpatrick's criminal case," July 3, 2008
    6. ↑ State of Michigan Court of Appeals, "Laurel Woods Apartments v. Najah Roumayah and Rebecca Roumayah," March 8, 2007
    7. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named east
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