Shelley Ann Grogan (born August 14, 1967) is an American lawyer and judge, currently serving on the

Wisconsin Court of Appeals The Wisconsin Court of Appeals is an intermediate appellate court that reviews contested decisions of the Wisconsin circuit courts. The Court of Appeals was created in August 1978 to alleviate the Wisconsin Supreme Court's rising number of appe ...

in the Waukesha-based District II court. She previously served as a municipal judge in

Muskego, Wisconsin Muskego () is a city in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 25,032. It is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The name Muskego is derived from the Potawatomi Indian name for the ar ...

Biography

Grogan received her bachelor's degree from

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...

in 1989, and went directly into

Marquette University Law School Marquette University Law School is the Law school in the United States, law school of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is one of two law schools in Wisconsin and the only private law school in the state. Founded in 1892 as the Mil ...

, where she earned her J.D. in 1992. Early in her legal career, she worked as a

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

to three judges of the

, Ted Wedemeyer, Ralph Adam Fine, and

Rebecca Bradley Rebecca Lynn Grassl Bradley (born August 2, 1971) is an American lawyer, and justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, serving since 2015. She has been a state judge in Wisconsin since 2012. She was appointed to the Supreme Court by Governor Scot ...

. When Judge Bradley was appointed to the

Wisconsin Supreme Court The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the Supreme court, highest and final court of appeals in the state judicial system of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. In addition to hearing appeals of lower Wisconsin court decisions, the Wisconsin Supreme Court also ...

in 2015, Grogan went with her as a judicial assistant. A resident of Muskego for 25 years, she was appointed municipal judge in 2020. Less than a year later, she announced her candidacy for

. She defeated incumbent judge Jeffrey O. Davis in the April 2021 election with 55% of the vote. In addition to her judicial career, Grogan has worked as an attorney in civil litigation, and is an adjunct professor at Marquette University Law School.

2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court election

During the 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court election, Grogan was an active and vocal supporter of conservative former justice Daniel Kelly in his campaign to return to the court. Grogan raised eyebrows when she used her perch in the Appeals Court to attack Kelly's conservative rival in the primary, judge Jennifer Dorow. Grogan overruled a sentence handed down by Dorow, called Dorow's sentence unlawful, and then reached out to a number of contacts in the legal community to point to her ruling in an attempt to embarrass and discredit Dorow. In response, conservative talk radio host

Mark Belling Mark Belling (born July 4, 1956) is an American former conservative talk radio host for 1130 WISN in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is also a local newspaper columnist, former television host, and was a frequent guest host for Rush Limbaugh in the e ...

publicly questioned Grogan's judicial ethics. Reacting to Belling's criticism, Grogan then took the unheard-of step of tweeting out a justification for her court ruling—though she did not offer any justification for her subsequent attempt to advertise and politicize the ruling. Kelly ultimately prevailed in the primary but lost the general election to liberal candidate, judge Janet Protasiewicz. Grogan deleted her twitter account the day after the election.

Personal life

Judge Grogan married attorney Frederick J. "Rick" Smith in 1992. They had three children together before his death in 2009.

Electoral history

Wisconsin Court of Appeals (2021)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, April 6, 2021

References

External links

*
Campaign websiteArchived March 27, 2021

Personal twitter (Archived October 13, 2021)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grogan, Shelley Date of birth unknown 1967 births Living people Marquette University alumni Marquette University Law School alumni Wisconsin Court of Appeals judges 21st-century American women judges 21st-century American judges