MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Senator(s) Boyd, McCaughn, Berry, Blackwell, Chassaniol, Fillingane, Frazier, Hopson, Michel, Parker, Robinson, Suber
A RESOLUTION MOURNING THE LOSS AND COMMENDING THE LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICE OF FORMER STATE SENATOR AND SECOND FEMALE JUSTICE IN HISTORY ON THE MISSISSIPPI SUPREME COURT KAY COBB OF OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI, AND LENOIR CITY, TENNESSEE, WHO SERVED IN MANY CAPACITIES IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN MISSISSIPPI, AND EXTENDING THE DEEPEST SYMPATHY OF THE MISSISSIPPI SENATE TO HER FAMILY AND FRIENDS ON HER PASSING.
WHEREAS, the Legislature and the State of Mississippi lost a colleague, a long-tenured legal educator and a state agency attorney in Kay Cobb of Oxford, Mississippi, and Lenoir City, Tennessee, who passed away on May 26, 2023; and
WHEREAS, Senator Cobb earned an undergraduate degree from Mississippi University for Women in 1963 and earned a Juris Doctorate in 1978 from the University of Mississippi School of Law; and
WHEREAS, she practiced law in Oxford until 1983 when she became Director of Prosecutor Programs at Mississippi Prosecutors College at UM School of Law. From 1984-1988, she was senior attorney for the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics; and
WHEREAS, in 1988, she became a special assistant attorney general and established a North Mississippi regional office. Senator Cobb served as state coordinator of the State Wide Education Enforcement and Prevention System program and served on the President's Commission on Model State Drug Laws and the National Alliance for Model State Drug Law; and
WHEREAS, Senator Cobb was elected to the Mississippi Senate and served from 1992 to 1996. Senator Cobb served as Chair of the Senate Elections committee at a time when election laws were being debated and modernized, and she was active in election reform legislation; and
WHEREAS, in 1999, Governor Kirk Fordice appointed her to the Mississippi Supreme Court as the second female justice in Mississippi history; she was elected to the position in 2000. She served until 2007 and authored 211 majority opinions during her tenure; and
WHEREAS, Senator Cobb was the 2007 recipient of the Susie Blue Buchanan Award by the Bar's Women in the Profession Section, and received the MUW Medal of Excellence in 1990; and
WHEREAS, Senator and Justice Cobb's life and service were marked by her commitment to success and recognized leadership, sound judgment and fairness. She set the highest standard in all her many roles as a practicing attorney, citizen, stateswoman, and leader in the Mississippi Senate and the Mississippi Supreme Court and the Mississippi Bar:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That we do hereby mourn the loss and commend the life, career and legal legacy of former State Senator and Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court Kay Cobb, and extend the condolences and sympathy of the Mississippi Senate to her family and friends.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to the surviving family of Senator/Justice Kay Cobb, forwarded to the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors and the Clerk of the Mississippi Supreme Court and be made available to the Capitol Press Corps.