Kentucky Court of Justice
The late Justice McAnulty will be honored at portrait dedication Oct. 15 at the Capitol

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The Supreme Court of Kentucky will honor the late Justice William E. McAnulty Jr. at a portrait dedication ceremony at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15, in the Supreme Court chambers on the second floor of the Capitol in Frankfort. Former Judge Edwin P. (“Pete”) Karem, chair of the Resolution Committee comprised of attorneys who worked with Justice McAnulty, will present the portrait to the Supreme Court. The portrait will hang in the corridors of the second floor of the Capitol.

The dedication ceremony will be open to the media and the public.

Justice McAnulty was the first black justice to serve on the Supreme Court of Kentucky. He was elected to the state’s highest court in November 2006 to represent the 4th Supreme Court District, which consists of Jefferson County. He had been appointed to the Supreme Court bench on June 28, 2006, to fill the position vacated by retiring Justice Martin E. Johnstone. Justice McAnulty passed away Aug. 23, 2007, after a courageous battle with cancer.

Justice McAnulty served at all four levels of the state court system. He began his judicial career as a Jefferson County Juvenile Court judge in 1975. He was elected to Jefferson District Court in November 1977, where he served until his election to Jefferson Circuit Court in November 1983. He briefly returned to private practice in January 1990 as a partner in a law firm and then returned to the Circuit Court in 1993. In 1998, he served as chief judge of the Jefferson Circuit Court until he was elected to the Kentucky Court of Appeals in November 1998 to represent the 4th Appellate District. He came to the Supreme Court from the Kentucky Court of Appeals in 2006.

In 1997, the Kentucky Academy of Trial Attorneys named Justice McAnulty the Henry V. Pennington Outstanding Judge of the Year and the Leadership Louisville Foundation presented him with its Thomas C. Simons Distinguished Leadership Award.