In 1950 McKay served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Africa, returning home in 1952.
[4] On November 2, 1977, McKay was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacated by Judge David Thomas Lewis.
[6] McKay served on a three-judge panel in the case of Yes on Term Limits v Savage[7] which was a federal lawsuit challenging Oklahoma's residency requirements for petition circulators.
On December 18, 2008, McKay and his fellow judges issued a unanimous decision in the case, saying that Oklahoma's residency restriction is an unconstitutional violation of First Amendment speech rights.
The judges rejected the BLM's arguments about the scope of its discretion under federal wilderness laws and its assertion that courts don't have jurisdiction over the agency's daily decisions.
In a separate opinion, Judge Monroe McKay said the district court lacked jurisdiction in the dispute but environmental laws allow the groups to pursue their claims through the public comment process.
On remand the Tenth Circuit reinstated its prior opinion in full, holding that the recent Supreme Court decisions did not dictate a different outcome.
After reviewing the case for more than 15 months, the three judges ruled unanimously that the Government could not be held liable for injuries suffered as a result of discretionary decision-making powers given the Atomic Energy Commission under the law.
More than a thousand plaintiffs had filed lawsuits against the Government contending that radioactive fallout from the atomic tests had caused about 500 deaths and injuries.