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Michelle Keller
2013 - Present
2031
12
Michelle M. Keller is a judge of the Kentucky Supreme Court 6th District. She assumed office on April 3, 2013. Her current term ends on January 6, 2031.
Keller ran for re-election for judge of the Kentucky Supreme Court 6th District. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[1] Keller received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.[2] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Keller graduated from Northern Kentucky University in 1985 with a degree in psychology while working as a registered nurse. She received her J.D. from Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law in 1990.[3]
Prior to serving as a judge, Keller practiced law for 17 years as a county attorney and in private practice. She specialized in medical negligence and product liability defense, personal injury and family law, criminal defense, and administrative law.[3]
Elections
2022
See also: Kentucky Supreme Court elections, 2022
General election
General election for Kentucky Supreme Court 6th District
Incumbent Michelle M. Keller defeated Joseph Fischer in the general election for Kentucky Supreme Court 6th District on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Michelle M. Keller (Nonpartisan) | 54.8 | 87,292 |
 | Joseph Fischer (Nonpartisan) | 45.2 | 71,911 | |
| Total votes: 159,203 | |||
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Nonpartisan primary election
The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Michelle M. Keller and Joseph Fischer advanced from the primary for Kentucky Supreme Court 6th District.
2014
- See also: Kentucky Supreme Court elections, 2014
Keller ran for re-election to the Kentucky Supreme Court. She defeated Teresa L. Cunningham in the general election on November 4, 2014, receiving 58.4% of the vote.[4]
2013
- See also: Kentucky Supreme Court
Gov. Steve Beshear (D) appointed Keller to fill a vacancy on the Kentucky Supreme Court created by the retirement of Wil Schroder.[3]
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Michelle M. Keller did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[5]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[6]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Michelle
Keller
Kentucky
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Donated less than $2,000 to Democratic candidates
- Received donations from Democrat-affiliated individuals or organizations
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Keller donated $1,650 to Democratic candidates and organizations. She received donations from multiple groups affiliated with the Democratic party. Keller was appointed by Steve Beshear (D) in 2013 to fill a vacancy. She was endorsed by the Kentucky AFL-CIO, a Democrat affiliated group.
State supreme court judicial selection in Kentucky
- See also: Judicial selection in Kentucky
The seven justices of the Kentucky Supreme Court are elected to eight-year terms in nonpartisan elections. They must run for re-election if they wish to serve subsequent terms.[7]
Qualifications
To serve on the Kentucky Supreme Court, the judge must be:
| “ | ” |
Chief justice
The chief justice of the court is chosen by peer vote. He or she serves in that capacity for four years.[7]
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs, the governor appoints a successor from a list of three names provided by the Kentucky Judicial Nominating Commission. If the term the appointee will fill expires at the next election, the appointment is for the remainder of the term. If the term does not expire at the next election and that election is more than three months away, the appointee must stand for election, and the election is for the remainder of the unexpired term. If the term does not expire at the next election, but the election is less than three months away, the appointee must stand for election in the election following the next. The election is for the remainder of the unexpired term, if any; if none of the term is left, the election is for a full term.[7]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Kentucky Courts, "Michelle M. Keller," accessed July 2, 2021
- ↑ Kentucky SOS, "November 4, 2014, General Election Results," accessed July 2, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection," accessed September 15, 2021
- ↑ Kentucky Board of Elections, "Candidate Qualifications," accessed March 31, 2023
- ↑ Kentucky Legislature, "Kentucky Constitution, Section 122," accessed June 1, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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Federal courts:
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Kentucky, Western District of Kentucky • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Kentucky, Western District of Kentucky
State courts:
Kentucky Supreme Court • Kentucky Court of Appeals • Kentucky Circuit Courts • Kentucky District Courts • Kentucky Family Court
State resources:
Courts in Kentucky • Kentucky judicial elections • Judicial selection in Kentucky
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