He is most notable for serving as an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court from 1972 to 1980.

[1] Daley attended Saint Michael's College for a year,[1][3] and then began the study of law in the office of attorney Raymond L. Miles of Newport.

[4] Daley was a longtime member of the Vermont Army National Guard; he enlisted in 1935, attended the Citizens' Military Training Camps conducted at Fort Devens, Massachusetts in the early 1940s, and received his commission as a second lieutenant of infantry in 1941.

[7] He transferred to the judge advocate general corps after becoming an attorney, and he returned to active duty again when the division was called to federal service during the Korean War, serving this time in West Germany.

[10][11] A Republican, Daley served as State's Attorney of Orleans County from 1947 to 1950, and 1953 to 1957.