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Reggie served as acting judge for the ailing Crowley City Judge Denis T. Canan, who was also Reggie's law partner. When Canan died in 1950, Reggie was appointed by Governor [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]] to Canan's seat, a fulfillment of Canan's dying wish. Appointed at the age of twenty-four, Reggie was reputed to be America's youngest judge at that time.<ref>''www.lapoliticalmuseum.com'' [http://www.lapoliticalmuseum.com/inductees.php?viewID=41 Edmund M. Reggie] Online version.</ref> Reggie held the post for twenty-five years until 1976.<ref>[http://www.reggiefamilyarchives.com/1728-The-Rise-of-Louisiana-Boy-to-Governor-s-Counsel.html|title=The Rise of Louisiana Boy to Governor's Counsel|publisher=''The New Orleans Times-Picayune''[|date= September 16, 1979.</ref>​

Reggie served as acting judge for the ailing Crowley City Judge Denis T. Canan, who was also Reggie's law partner. When Canan died in 1950, Reggie was appointed by Governor [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]] to Canan's seat, a fulfillment of Canan's dying wish. Appointed at the age of twenty-four, Reggie was reputed to be America's youngest judge at that time.<ref>''www.lapoliticalmuseum.com'' [http://www.lapoliticalmuseum.com/inductees.php?viewID=41 Edmund M. Reggie] Online version.</ref> Reggie held the post for twenty-five years until 1976.<ref>[http://www.reggiefamilyarchives.com/1728-The-Rise-of-Louisiana-Boy-to-Governor-s-Counsel.html|title=The Rise of Louisiana Boy to Governor's Counsel|publisher=''The New Orleans Times-Picayune''[|date= September 16, 1979.</ref>​

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At the 1956 [[Democratic National Convention]] in [[Chicago]], with the Louisiana and Massachusetts state delegations sitting across the aisle from each other, Reggie brokered the delegation's support for U.S. Senator [[John F. Kennedy]] for [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] (on a ticket with [[Adlai Stevenson]], rather than the vice-presidential nominee chosen, Senator [[Estes Kefauver]] of [[Tennessee]], the preference of Louisiana Governor Earl Long.<ref>{{cite news |author=Jim Bradshaw |title=Acadiana Diary: Louisiana delegation helped bring JFK to notice |url=http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200803020250/COLUMNISTS01/803020331 |publisher=''The Lafayette Daily Advertiser''|accessdate=October 28, 2008}}</ref>​

At the 1956 [[Democratic National Convention]] in [[Chicago]], with the Louisiana and Massachusetts state delegations sitting across the aisle from each other, Reggie brokered the delegation's support for U.S. Senator [[John F. Kennedy]] for [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] (on a ticket with [[Adlai Stevenson]], rather than the vice-presidential nominee chosen, Senator [[Estes Kefauver]] of [[Tennessee]], the preference of Louisiana Governor Earl Long.<ref>{{cite web|author=Jim Bradshaw|title=Acadiana Diary: Louisiana delegation helped bring JFK to notice|url=http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200803020250/COLUMNISTS01/803020331|publisher=''The Lafayette Daily Advertiser''|accessdate=October 28, 2008}}</ref>​

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In the 1960 presidential election, Reggie was a leading Kennedy supporter in Louisiana. In 1959, he invited Kennedy and his wife, [[Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis]], to attend the International Rice Festival in Crowley as honored guests. This afforded Kennedy the opportunity to address a crowd of 130,000 people.<ref>[http://www.reggiefamilyarchives.com/Crowley-Rice-Festival-1959.html Crowley Rice Festival, 1959]</ref> The Kennedys were greeted by enthusiastic crowds — the largest JFK addressed prior to his presidential nomination in July 1960. Working with Reggie in the campaign was the former Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry Sidney McCrory of Ascension Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thepineywoods.com/ABarefootBoy.htm|title=W. C. Abbott, Jr., "A barefoot boy from Home Villa had a hand in history"|publisher=thepineywoods.com|accessdate=May 2, 2013}}</ref>​

In the 1960 presidential election, Reggie was a leading Kennedy supporter in Louisiana. In 1959, he invited Kennedy and his wife, [[Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis]], to attend the International Rice Festival in Crowley as honored guests. This afforded Kennedy the opportunity to address a crowd of 130,000 people.<ref>[http://www.reggiefamilyarchives.com/Crowley-Rice-Festival-1959.html Crowley Rice Festival, 1959]</ref> The Kennedys were greeted by enthusiastic crowds — the largest JFK addressed prior to his presidential nomination in July 1960. Working with Reggie in the campaign was the former Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry Sidney McCrory of Ascension Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thepineywoods.com/ABarefootBoy.htm|title=W. C. Abbott, Jr., "A barefoot boy from Home Villa had a hand in history"|publisher=thepineywoods.com|accessdate=May 2, 2013}}</ref>​