[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9819-9820]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO JUDGE JAMES F. McKAY III

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise to honor Judge James F. McKay III on 
his appointment as Honorary Counsel of Ireland of the State of 
Louisiana.
  In addition to his public service as an appellate court judge on 
Louisiana's Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal and national leadership as 
president of the American Judge's Association, Judge McKay is widely 
known for his long and distinguished leadership and service to the 
Ancient Order of Hibernians at the national level. He served as the 
National Chairman of the 94th National Convention and was elected 
national treasurer of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, AOH, in 2008. He 
has held a variety of other leadership positions within AOH including: 
chairman of the Grievance Tribunals; chairman of the Constitution 
Revision Committee; chairman of the Home Fund; national board member 
and chairman of the 1992 national convention in New Orleans.
  Judge McKay is the son of James F. McKay and Katherine Raphiel McKay 
and grew up in the Lakeview neighborhood of New Orleans. Along with his 
six siblings, he was educated by the Carmelite Sisters at St. Dominic 
School and remains active in the affairs of both St. Dominic School and 
St. Dominic Church, serving as a member of the Knights of Columbus St. 
Dominic Council. Judge McKay went on to graduate from De La Salle High 
School and has served as a board member and past president of the De La

[[Page 9820]]

Salle Alumni Association, as well as an advisor to the Christian 
Brothers.
  Among his more notable civil contributions, Judge McKay has been 
president of the Fireman's Charitable and Benevolent Association, FCBA, 
since 2000. Founded in 1834, the FCBA was organized to care for the 
widows and children of volunteer firemen who died in the line of duty. 
The association built two cemeteries in New Orleans--Cypress Grove and 
Greenwood--as a mausoleum, funeral home, and corporate offices, were 
devastated following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and would never have 
been rebounded if it were not for Judge McKay's efforts and leadership 
in the immediate weeks and subsequent years following the storm.
  Service to the Irish has been a long-standing tradition in the McKay 
family, and Judge McKay, a native of New Orleans, has worked tirelessly 
to preserve the city's strong history of Irish culture. He is a 
longtime participant in the annual St. Patrick's Day parade in the 
world famous Irish Channel of New Orleans. He was among the leaders who 
helped erect the city's first monument to thousands of Irish immigrants 
who died of yellow fever, malaria, cholera, occupational hazards, and 
exhaustion while digging the New Basin Canal in 1831 to link Lake 
Pontchartrain to the inner city. As Louisiana's foremost Irish-American 
leader, he regularly receives public officials and notables from all of 
Ireland upon visiting New Orleans.
  Judge McKay was elected to the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of 
Appeal in 1998. He served as a judge on the Criminal District Court in 
Orleans Parish from 1982-1989. He was the chief prosecuter for the 
Metropolitan Office of the Louisiana Attorney General from 1978 to 
1982, and from 1974 to 1978, he served as an assistant district 
attorney for Orleans Parish. He received his juris doctorate in 1974 
from Loyola Law School, worked as a probation and parole officer while 
studying the law, and graduated from the University of Southwestern 
Louisiana in 1969 with a bachelor of arts in History.
  He has served on the board of governors of the American Judges 
Association since 1996 and as secretary and president-elect. He now 
presides as president of the association--an honor that was bestowed 
upon him at a ceremony in September of this year in my home city of Las 
Vegas, NV. Judge McKay also serves as a member of the American Bar 
Association, the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Fourth and Fifth 
Circuit District Judge's Association, and the St. Thomas Moore Law 
Society.
  I also am grateful for my Washington DC, contact with the McKay 
family. Laurie McKay, the judge's daughter, is a longtime friend of the 
Reid family. In fact, some say she is part of our family.
  Therefore, I am delighted to join with Judge McKay's family, 
including his wife of almost 40 years, Marie Soniat McKay, and their 
four children and five grandchildren in celebrating and honoring him on 
all of his accomplishments. I invite my colleagues to join me in 
officially congratulating Judge James F. McKay III on his appointment 
as Honorary Counsel of Ireland for the State of Louisiana, and wish him 
the greatest success in his endeavors.

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