Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker appointed Waukesha attorney Daniel Kelly to the Wisconsin Supreme Court bench on Friday. Our guest tells us more about the new justice’s legal background. With Wisconsin’s primary election just two weeks away, we will host candidates for several contested congressional seats. Today we start with Gary George (D), who is challenging Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D) to represent the 4th congressional district. Plus, a look at what the beach represents in our culture and how that has changed.
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Wisconsin Supreme Court's Newest Justice Has 'Obvious And Explicit Conservative Roots,' Reporter Says
There’s no denying that Gov. Scott Walker’s newly appointed state Supreme Court justice has “obvious and explicit conservative roots,” according to a Capital Times investigative reporter.
On Friday, Walker selected attorney Daniel Kelly to fill the seat left vacant by Justice David Prosser’s retirement. The private-practice attorney from Waukesha has never served as a judge — which is neither a prerequisite or unprecedented. Both Prosser and former Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson also never served as judges prior to their appointment.
Kelly is the president of the Milwaukee Chapter of the Federalist Society and also involved with the Kern Family Foundation, both of which are considered strongly-conservative organizations, according to Katelyn Ferral, a public affairs and investigative reporter at the Capital Times.
“I think general consensus is that, if anything, Justice Kelly will be a more reliably conservative vote,” she said. “At times, I think people thought if there was any swing vote on the court it would have been Prosser. But Kelly will likely consistently vote in the conservative majority. So as far as votes go, this doesn’t really do much in changing anything.”
This appointment is the governor’s second to the state’s highest court in less than a year. Kelly’s appointment preserves the court’s 5-2 conservative majority.
Walker quickly garnered both support and criticism for the selection. Conservative and libertarian organizations across the state, including the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, praised Kelly’s intellectual approach to the law, and his ability to provide a roadmap to attorneys for complicated and unresolved legal issues.
Liberal groups, however, have criticized Kelly for representing Walker and the state in campaign finance and redistricting cases. Moreover, they’ve chastised Kelly for his stance on gay marriage and previous comments he made in which he compared affirmative action to slavery.
“Morally and as a matter of law, they are the same,” Kelly wrote. “I believe there is a moral and constitutional equivalence between laws that subjugate a race and those that distribute benefits on the basis of race in order to foster some current notion of equality.”
Kelly has since expanded on the comments, stating that slavery was clearly a more devastating institution and that there are obvious differences between the two. He wouldn’t let it affect his legal decisions.
At a press conference on Friday, Kelly was asked by reporters how he would put aside his personal beliefs when reviewing cases.
“There needs to be a bright line distinction about the role of the court on one hand, and on the other, personal, political and political philosophy beliefs in order to foster confidence that the court will not incorporate personal beliefs into the work it does,” he said. “I think it’s inappropriate for a justice to comment publicly on their political beliefs or political philosophy.”
“I trust that I will always stand humbly before the law,” Kelly said. “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 to the best of my ability.”
Kelly will finish Prosser’s current term, and won’t be up for re-election until 2020. He’ll then have to run for a 10-year term should he want to stay on the bench.
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From Terrifying To Restorative: How Beaches Were Invented
A vacation involving sand castles and sunbathing was far from relaxing a few hundred years ago. Before the beach became the sight of summer retreats and carefree spring breaks, it was a natural space that many people, particularly in the Western world, avoided.
The temperament of bodies of water in people’s imagination was the main reason for their aversion to the beach, according to historian Daniela Blei, who has written on the rise of beaches.
“You see people talking about the angry seas (and) the wrath of the ocean,” she said. “The ocean inspires this deep sense of repulsion.”
For many, the seas and oceans were the sight of shipwrecks and natural disasters. In everything from the Bible to Greek mythology, the space where the sand met the ocean was often the natural habitat of misfortune.
So what caused the total turnaround in popular perception of the beach? Blei said it was an elite fad in the middle of the 18th century. That elite culture created the foundation for modern-day resorts.
“We see new medical discourses among the elites about the salty, freezing seawaters as restorative places,” Blei said. “It becomes part of this whole new discourse on health and hygiene and fresh air.”
In the early 19th century, the notion of beaches being restorative made its way out of the upper crusts of society and into the mainstream through pop culture. Writers, poets, and painters like Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, Caspar David Friedrich and other Romantics alluded to nature in their work and characterized nature as something worthy of awe, emotion and terror.
The middle of the 19th century saw beaches become the getaway location that they are for thousands of vacationers today. And with the rise of modern cities and the pursuit of empire, Europeans began to “go in search of new, unspoiled beaches” and make beaches part of colonial projects in other parts of the world.
“By the 1850s, it’s a 180-degree turn from a few centuries before where the beach was this terrifying place that everyone was trying to avoid,” Blei said. “Now, it’s kind of this civilization story where everyone’s taking to the beach and you have the spread of seaside resorts first in Britain, then across Europe and the rest of the world.”
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Walker Appoints Justice Daniel Kelly To Wisconsin Supreme Court
On Friday, Waukesha attorney Daniel Kelly was appointed to the bench of the Wisconsin Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice David Prosser. We talk to a public policy reporter about Justice Kelly’s legal background and what it means for the state of Wisconsin.
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The Evolution Of The Beach
The beach has undergone an amazing transformation over the centuries. It was first thought of as dangerous and inhospitable but has evolved into a place for vacations and leisure. Historian Daniela Blei joins us to talk about the historical and literary significance of the beach.
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Congressional Primary Candidate Interview: Gary George
Wisconsin’s primary elections are coming up, with contested races for Congressional seats around the state. Candidate Gary George joins the show to talk about his campaign to be the Democratic Party’s candidate in the Milwaukee-area Congressional district.
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Wisconsin Supreme Court's Newest Justice Has 'Obvious And Explicit Conservative Roots,' Reporter Says
There’s no denying that Gov. Scott Walker’s newly appointed state Supreme Court justice has “obvious and explicit conservative roots,” according to a Capital Times investigative reporter.
On Friday, Walker selected attorney Daniel Kelly to fill the seat left vacant by Justice David Prosser’s retirement. The private-practice attorney from Waukesha has never served as a judge — which is neither a prerequisite or unprecedented. Both Prosser and former Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson also never served as judges prior to their appointment.
Kelly is the president of the Milwaukee Chapter of the Federalist Society and also involved with the Kern Family Foundation, both of which are considered strongly-conservative organizations, according to Katelyn Ferral, a public affairs and investigative reporter at the Capital Times.
“I think general consensus is that, if anything, Justice Kelly will be a more reliably conservative vote,” she said. “At times, I think people thought if there was any swing vote on the court it would have been Prosser. But Kelly will likely consistently vote in the conservative majority. So as far as votes go, this doesn’t really do much in changing anything.”
This appointment is the governor’s second to the state’s highest court in less than a year. Kelly’s appointment preserves the court’s 5-2 conservative majority.
Walker quickly garnered both support and criticism for the selection. Conservative and libertarian organizations across the state, including the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, praised Kelly’s intellectual approach to the law, and his ability to provide a roadmap to attorneys for complicated and unresolved legal issues.
Liberal groups, however, have criticized Kelly for representing Walker and the state in campaign finance and redistricting cases. Moreover, they’ve chastised Kelly for his stance on gay marriage and previous comments he made in which he compared affirmative action to slavery.
“Morally and as a matter of law, they are the same,” Kelly wrote. “I believe there is a moral and constitutional equivalence between laws that subjugate a race and those that distribute benefits on the basis of race in order to foster some current notion of equality.”
Kelly has since expanded on the comments, stating that slavery was clearly a more devastating institution and that there are obvious differences between the two. He wouldn’t let it affect his legal decisions.
At a press conference on Friday, Kelly was asked by reporters how he would put aside his personal beliefs when reviewing cases.
“There needs to be a bright line distinction about the role of the court on one hand, and on the other, personal, political and political philosophy beliefs in order to foster confidence that the court will not incorporate personal beliefs into the work it does,” he said. “I think it’s inappropriate for a justice to comment publicly on their political beliefs or political philosophy.”
“I trust that I will always stand humbly before the law,” Kelly said. “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 to the best of my ability.”
Kelly will finish Prosser’s current term, and won’t be up for re-election until 2020. He’ll then have to run for a 10-year term should he want to stay on the bench.
Episode Credits
- Rob Ferrett Host
- Veronica Rueckert Host
- Haleema Shah Producer
- J. Carlisle Larsen Producer
- Rob Ferrett Producer
- Katelyn Ferral Guest
- Daniela Blei Guest
- Gary George Guest
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.
