Richard "Dick" Carelli worked as a professional journalist for 32 years, 31 of them with The Associated Press. For 24 years of his AP tenure, he served as the news agency's chief correspondent at the U.S. Supreme Court. For many years, he also wrote a weekly legal affairs column.

Away from his beat, Carelli covered every national convention of the two major political parties from 1984 to 2000. When he retired from the AP in 2000, Carelli had covered 19 of history’s 108 Supreme Court members. He then became senior public affairs specialist for the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.