[4] She then clerked for David R. Hansen, a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

[4] During the 1993–94 academic year, Kelly taught as a visiting instructor at the University of Illinois College of Law.

[6][7][1] On January 31, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated Kelly to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, to the seat vacated by Judge Michael Joseph Melloy, who assumed senior status on February 1, 2013.

[1] In March 2016, Kelly was reported to be a potential nominee for the Supreme Court to replace the vacancy caused by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

[11] In 2004, Kelly was attacked while jogging in a park in Cedar Rapids, brutally beaten and left barely conscious; her assailant was never identified.