Joseph McKenna

For Joseph McKenna the member (Volunteer) in the Irish Republican Army, see List of members of the Irish Republican Army. For the American state legislator, see Joseph D. McKenna.

Joseph McKenna
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office January 21, 1898 – January 5, 1925
Nominated by	William McKinley
Preceded by	Stephen Johnson Field
Succeeded by	Harlan F. Stone
42nd United States Attorney General
In office March 5, 1897 – January 25, 1898
President	William McKinley
Preceded by	Judson Harmon
Succeeded by	John W. Griggs
Judge on United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
In office March 17, 1892 – March 5, 1897
Nominated by	Benjamin Harrison
Preceded by	Lorenzo Sawyer
Succeeded by	William W. Morrow
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 3rd district
In office March 4, 1885 – March 28, 1892
Preceded by	Barclay Henley
Succeeded by	Samuel G. Hilborn
Personal details
Born	(1843-08-10)August 10, 1843 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Amanda Borneman McKenna
Alma mater	St. Joseph's University Benicia Collegiate Institute Columbia Law School
Profession	Lawyer, Politician
Religion	Roman Catholic

Joseph McKenna (August 10, 1843 – November 21, 1926) was an American politician who served in all three branches of the U.S. federal government, as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, as U.S. Attorney General and as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. He is one of seventeen members of the House of Representatives who subsequently served on the Supreme Court (including two Chief Justices).

Biography

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Irish Catholic immigrants, he attended St. Joseph's College and the Collegiate Institute at Benicia, California. After being admitted to the California bar in 1865, he became District Attorney for Solano County and then campaigned for and won a seat in the California State Assembly for two years (1875–1877). He retired after one term and an unsuccessful bid for Speaker of the House.

After two unsuccessful attempts, McKenna was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1885 and served for four terms. He was appointed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1892 by President Benjamin Harrison.

In 1897 he was appointed the 42nd Attorney General of the United States by President William McKinley, and served in that capacity until 1898. He was then appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to succeed Justice Stephen J. Field. McKenna was named by President McKinley on January 28, 1898 and took his seat the next day. Conscious of his limited credentials, McKenna took courses at Columbia Law School for several months to improve his legal education before taking his seat on the Court.

Although he never developed a consistent legal philosophy, McKenna was the author of a number of important decisions. One of the most notable was his opinion in the case of United States v. U.S. Steel Corporation (1920) which held that antitrust cases would be decided on the “rule of reason” principle—only alleged monopolistic combinations that are in unreasonable restraint of trade—are illegal.

McKenna was known to be a centrist, and was one of the most vigorous members of the Supreme Court. He authored 614 majority opinions, and 146 dissenting opinions during his time on the bench.[Bush, Supreme Court Decisions] His passionate rebuttal to the denial of "pecuniary benefit" to a wife whose husband had been killed while working on the railroad was among those which brought a change to the Employer Liability Act. His most noteworthy opinions are Hipolite Egg Co. v. United States 220 U.S. 45 (1911), in which a unanimous Court upheld the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906,

In Hoke v. United States, he concurred in upholding the Mann Act, a/k/a "White-Slave Traffic Act". However, four years later, he dissented from the Court's opinion in Caminetti v. United States (1917), which held the act applied to private, noncommercial enticements to cross state lines for purposes of a sexual liaison. According to McKenna, the Act regulated only commercial vice, i.e., "immoralities having a mercenary purpose."

While McKenna was generally quite favorable to federal power, he joined the Court's substantive due process jurisprudence and voted with the majority in 1905's Lochner v. New York, which struck down a state maximum-hours law for bakery workers, This decision carried broader implications for the scope of federal power, at least until the New Deal and the 1937 switch-in-time-that-saved-nine. See, Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937.

McKenna resigned from the Court in January 1925 at the suggestion of Chief Justice William Howard Taft. McKenna's ability to perform his duties had been diminished significantly by a stroke suffered ten years earlier, and by the end of his tenure McKenna could not be counted on to write coherent opinions.

Justice McKenna was one of thirteen Catholic justices (out of the 112 total through the appointment of Justice Elena Kagan) in the history of the Supreme Court.

McKenna married Amanda Borneman in 1869, and the couple had three daughters and one son. McKenna died on November 21, 1926. in Washington, D.C.. His remains are interred at the city's Mount Olivet Cemetery.

See also

• List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
• List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
• List of U.S. Supreme Court Justices by time in office
• United States Supreme Court cases during the Fuller Court
• United States Supreme Court cases during the Taft Court
• United States Supreme Court cases during the White Court

References

• Joseph McKenna at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Further reading

• McKevitt, Brother Matthew (1946) Joseph McKenna: Associate Justice of the United States.

External links

• Department of Justice, Joseph McKenna Attorney General.
• Joseph McKenna at Find-a-grave.
• Joseph McKenna at Supreme Court Historical Society.
• Official Supreme Court media, Joseph McKenna at the Oyez project.

California Assembly
Preceded by James Dixon, William H. Northcutt, W. S. M. Wright	California State Assemblyman, 19th District (Solano County seat) 1875–1877 Served alongside: Thomas M. Swan	Succeeded by John T. Dare, Richard C. Haile
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Barclay Henley	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 3rd congressional district 1885–1891	Succeeded by Samuel G. Hilborn
Legal offices
Preceded by Judson Harmon	U.S. Attorney General Served under: William McKinley 1897–1898	Succeeded by John W. Griggs
Preceded by Lorenzo Sawyer	Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 1892–1897	Succeeded by William W. Morrow
Preceded by Stephen Johnson Field	Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States January 21, 1898 – January 5, 1925	Succeeded by Harlan Fiske Stone