Yesterday Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announced that University of Michigan law professor Joan Larsen will be replacing outgoing Michigan Supreme Court Justice Mary Beth Kelly, who announced her resignation earlier this year:
[S]he was deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. She has also taught at Northwestern University School of Law. Larsen began her career as a law clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She then served as law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia for two years. She followed her clerkship into private practice with the law firm Sidley & Austin in Washington, D.C.Larsen has written extensively on the Constitution, international law, the judicial system, and separation of powers. She is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and the Bar Association of the District of Columbia. Larsen earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa in 1990 and received her law degree from Northwestern University School of Law in 1993, ranking first in her class.
As the release notes, Larsen will face an election in 2016 to serve the remainder of the outgoing justice’s term until 2018.
A hearty congratulations and best wishes to the newly-minted Justice Larsen!