A Wyoming native with extensive ties to the legal community, Judge Kelly Rankin has been nominated to a lifetime appointment on the federal bench.

Background

Born in 1968, Kelly H. Rankin received a B.S. from the University of Wyoming in 1990 and a J.D. from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1994. Rankin then spent a year at the Lincoln County Attorney’s Office before shifting to the Park County Attorney’s Office. In 1999, Rankin became the Park County Attorney.

In 2003, Rankin became a federal prosecutor under U.S. Attorney Matt Mead. In 2008, Rankin was appointed to replace Mead by President George W. Bush as U.S. Attorney, which he held until 2010, when President Obama replaced him with Christopher Crofts. Rankin then briefly served as Counsel to Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal (himself a former Wyoming U.S. Attorney) before returning to the U.S. Attorney’s Office as Criminal Chief.

In 2012, Rankin was appointed as a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Wyoming, where he currently serves.

History of the Seat

Rankin has been nominated for a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming to replace Judge Nancy Freudenthal, who took senior status on June 1, 2022.

Legal Experience

While Rankin started his legal career as a prosecutor in a number of County Attorney’s offices, his name first appears in notable cases as a law student, when Rankin assisted the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office in opposing an appeal from a defendant charged with forgery and check fraud. See Black v. State, 869 P.2d 1137 (Wyo. 1994).

In 2003, Rankin became an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the District of Wyoming, in which role he prosecuted a variety of offenses, and argued before the Tenth Circuit as well. See United States v. Magallanez, 408 F.3d 672 (10th Cir. 2005). In 2008, at the age of forty, Rankin was nominated by President George W. Bush to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Wyoming and was confirmed by the Senate. As U.S. Attorney, Rankin supervised and directed all federal prosecutions for the District, including working with future Tenth Circuit Judge Gregory Phillips, when the latter was a federal prosecutor. See, e.g., United States v. Dennis, 551 F.3d 986 (10th Cir. 2008). Rankin also served as counsel of record on certain appeals before the Tenth Circuit. See, e.g., United States v. Brown, 556 F.3d 1108 (10th Cir. 2009).

Subsequently, Rankin spent a short stint as a legal advisor to Gov. Dave Freudenthal before returning to the U.S. Attorney’s Office as Chief of the Criminal Section.

Jurisprudence

Since 2012, Rankin has been a U.S. Magistrate Judge with the District of Wyoming. In this role, Rankin presides over cases where parties consent to his jurisdiction, presides over pretrial release and discovery issues, and writes reports and recommendations for district judges to approve. Among the cases where the parties consented to Rankin presiding, while sitting by designation in Colorado, he presided over litigation brought by a Sheriff in Park County who claims that he was demoted for criticizing the conduct of other Deputies who had engaged in a civil eviction that ended in the deaths of two individuals. See Tonjes v. Park Cnty. Sheriff’s Office, 300 F. Supp. 3d 1308 (D. Colo. 2018). Rankin denied motions to dismiss most of the claims brought by the plaintiff, finding that they had been plausibly alleged. See id. at 1332-33.

Among other notable opinions Rankin has authored, he denied a motion from Casper City Councilman Craig Hedquist’s to compel production of documents between the City Council and attorneys and other individuals related to an effort to remove Hedquist, finding that the documents were protected under the attorney-client privilege. See Hedquist v. Patterson, 215 F. Supp. 3d 1237 (Wyo. 2016).

Political Activity

While Rankin has worked for both Republicans and Democrats in his career, his donation history is entirely Republican, including donations to Mead, Sen. Mike Enzi, and the Wyoming Republican Party.

Overall Assessment

With the support of the White House, his home state senators, and extensive experience with the Wyoming legal community, Rankin represents a fairly consensus nominee and should be confirmed comfortably.