I consider it a privilege and a great honor to have been elected by the people of Michigan to serve on the state Supreme Court.

During my seven years as a justice I have tried my best to decide each case on the merits using the following principles as my guideposts:

(1) To judge fairly and without bias for or against any person or organization;

(2) To study the matters brought before me thoroughly and to decide them without delay;

(3) To interpret and apply the law accurately, paying due respect to the precedent laid down by earlier justices in case law and to the intent of the Legislature in statutes;

(4) To obtain a balance, making neither a too-narrow nor an activist reading of the law; and

(5)  To try not to lose sight of common sense and real world concerns in my judging.

Some examples of my judging are as follows (links are provided to ICLE html files and, where available, to PDF files that open directly to my opinion):

• I wrote the opinion of the Court that made it possible for a jury to hear reliable evidence that helped convict a pedophile in the case of People v Katt (ICLE html file; PDF file, 215Kb), 468 Mich 272 (2003);
• In the case of Sington v Chrysler Corporation (ICLE html file; PDF file, 277Kb), 467 Mich 144 (2002), I dissented because the majority redefined "disability" for injured workers, disregarding years of Michigan precedent.
• The case of Durant v State (ICLE html file), 456 Mich 175 (1997), held that special education must be financed by the state since the state requires that it be provided in the schools. I was one of the majority in that ruling;
• I dissented in Nawrocki v Macomb County Rd Commn (ICLE html file), 463 Mich 143 (2000), because I believed that the majority incorrectly redefined the law to read that the state does not have to pay someone for injuries caused by the state's failure to install, maintain, repair, or improve traffic control devices.

— Justice Marilyn Kelly

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Justice Kelly (seated in red) with Judge Patricia Micklow (ret.) of Marquette and other leaders of the State Bar's Pro Bono Project for Domestic Violence Victims receiving the prestigious national Community and Educational Outreach Award presented by the National Association of Bar Executives and Lexis Nexis. The project is designed to encourage pro bono legal services for low-income domestic violence victims.

Justice Kelly in the middle surrounded by some of her past and present court interns – from left: (standing) Mahmoud Awad, (seated) Lana Panagoulia, (standing) Shawn Jappaya, Justice Kelly, Joel Yono and Sheila Worthy Williams.

Justice Kelly with one of her law student interns, Tanille Brooks, who was recently honored along with 14 other outstanding women law students at the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan (WLAM) Foundation Annual Awards Reception where Justice Kelly spoke.

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