William Kelley

Associate Professor of Law

Office: 2116 Eck Hall of Law
Phone: 574.631.8646
Fax: 574.631.4197
Email: William.K.Kelley.24@nd.edu
Staff Assistant: Claire Shely
SSRN: View

William K. Kelley teaches constitutional law and administrative law, and focuses on public law issues in his scholarship. Chief Justice John G. Roberts appointed Kelley to the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure (the "Standing Committee") in September 2015 for a three-year term. During Spring 2008 semester, he served as the Associate Dean for Faculty Research. From 2005-2007, he served in the White House as Deputy Counsel to the President. In that capacity, he was responsible for advising the President of the United States on all legal matters affecting the Executive Branch. He joined the faculty in 1995 after practicing with two major law firms, and serving from 1991-1994 as assistant to the solicitor general at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Professor Kelley began his legal career by serving as law clerk to the Honorable Kenneth W. Starr on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (1987-88), as well as for Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Antonin Scalia (1988-89). He earned his B.A. from Marquette University in 1984, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1987, where he served as Supreme Court editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Courses Taught

LAW60307, Constitutional Law

LAW70305, Constitutional Law II

LAW70311, Federal Courts

LAW70315, Administrative Law

LAW70318, Legislation & Regulation

Scholarship

Articles 

Justice Antonin Scalia and the Long Game¸ 80 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1601 (2012) 

Judicial Selection, Federal and State, 32 Amer. J. of Trial Advocacy 453 (2009) 

Avoiding Constitutional Questions As a Three-Branch Problem, 86 Cornell Law Review 831 (2001) 

The Primacy of Political Actors in Accommodation of Religion, 22 Univ. of Hawaii L. Rev. 403 (2000) 

The Constitutional Dilemma of Litigation Under the Independent Counsel Statute, 83 Minnesota Law Review 1197 (1999) 

Inculcating Constitutional Values, 15 Constitutional Commentary 161 (1998) 

Book contributions 

The Structural Function of the State Action Doctrine in American Constitutional Law, in The Duty to Protect and to Ensure Human Rights (Eckart Klein ed., Univ. 
of Potsdam 2000) 

Agostini v. Felton, in The Encyclopedia of the American Constitution (Supp. II 1999) 

Kiryas Joel, in The Encyclopedia of the American Constitution (Supp. II 1999)

Areas of Expertise

• Administrative Law
• Constitutional Law
• Federal Courts
• Independent Counsel Laws
• Statutory Interpretation