William E. McAnulty, Jr.

Who was William E. McAnulty, Jr.?

William Eugene McAnulty, Jr. was an American attorney and judge in Louisville, Kentucky who became the first African American justice on the Kentucky Supreme Court. The son of a mailman, he attended Shortridge High School, Indiana University, and received a J.D. from the University of Louisville School of Law.

McAnulty became a juvenile court judge in Louisville in 1975, and was elected Jefferson County District Court judge in 1977. In 1980, he left the bench when Governor John Y. Brown, Jr. named him state justice secretary, making him the first black to hold a cabinet-level post in Kentucky. However, he resigned a month later, saying that the position would force him to spend too much time away from his family; Brown immediately reappointed him to his former seat on the District Court. McAnulty was elected Circuit Court judge in 1983. His sister, Jean McAnulty Smith, recalled that on that particular Election Day, he decided to play one-on-one basketball against a 12-year-old neighbor, and McAnulty ended up attending his victory party on crutches. His basketball opponent was future NBA star Allan Houston.