Joseph McKenna (August 10, 1843 – November 21, 1926) was an American politician who served in all three branches of the

U.S. federal government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fed ...

, as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, as

U.S. Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

and as an

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court An associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is any member of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the chief justice of the United States. The number of associate justices is eight, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1 ...

. 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 Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, the son of

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the Briti ...

immigrants, he attended St. Joseph's College and the

Collegiate Institute A collegiate institute is an institution that provides either secondary or post-secondary education, dependent on where the term is used. In Canada, the term is used to describe an institutions that provide secondary education, while the word is use ...

in Benicia, California. After being admitted to the California bar in 1865, he became District Attorney for

Solano County Solano County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 453,491. The county seat is Fairfield. Solano County comprises the Vallejo–Fairfield, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which i ...

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.Joseph McKenna at
Supreme Court Historical Society. After two unsuccessful attempts, McKenna was elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

in 1885 and served for four terms. While in Congress, he was a "vehement proponent" of Chinese exclusion. He was appointed to the

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

in 1892 by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...

. In 1897 he was appointed the 42nd Attorney General of the United States by President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

, and served in that capacity until 1898. Joseph McKenna (assoc justice)

McKenna was nominated by President McKinley on December 16, 1897, as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to succeed

Stephen Johnson Field Stephen Johnson Field (November 4, 1816 – April 9, 1899) was an American jurist. He was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from May 20, 1863, to December 1, 1897, the second longest tenure of any justice. Prior to this a ...

. He was confirmed by the Senate on January 21, 1898, by a voice vote. He then took the judicial oath of office on January 26, 1898. Conscious of his limited credentials, McKenna attended

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

for about a month between his nomination and Senate confirmation 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. He authored 614 majority opinions, and 146 dissenting opinions during his time on the bench. 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. One of his most noteworthy opinions was '' 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 The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, also known as Dr. Wiley's Law, was the first of a series of significant consumer protection laws which was enacted by Congress in the 20th century and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration ...

. In '' Hoke v. United States'' (1913), he concurred in upholding the

Mann Act The White-Slave Traffic Act, also called the Mann Act, is a United States federal law, passed June 25, 1910 (ch. 395, ; ''codified as amended at'' ). It is named after Congressman James Robert Mann of Illinois. In its original form the act mad ...

, a/k/a the "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."Ariens, Michael, Joseph McKenna at
michaelariens.com. McKenna wrote '' Williams v. Mississippi'', upholding the state's racist 1890 Constitution that disenfranchised nearly every African American in the state through poll taxes and literacy tests, while exempting whites through a grandfather clause. Amanda Borneman

While McKenna was generally quite favorable to federal power, he joined the Court's

substantive due process Substantive due process is a principle in United States constitutional law that allows courts to establish and protect certain fundamental rights from government interference, even if only procedural protections are present or the rights are unen ...

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 '' West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish''. (''See''

Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937 The Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, frequently called the "court-packing plan",Epstein, at 451. was a legislative initiative proposed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to add more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court in order ...

.) McKenna resigned from the Court in January 1925 at the suggestion of Chief Justice

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

.Appel, JM
Anticipating the Incapacitated Justice
, August 22, 2009. McKenna's ability to perform his duties had been diminished significantly by a stroke suffered 10 years earlier, and by the end of his tenure McKenna could not be counted on to write coherent opinions. McKenna was one of 15 Catholic justices (out of the 115 total through the appointment of Justice

Amy Coney Barrett Amy Vivian Coney Barrett (born January 28, 1972) is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The fifth woman to serve on the court, she was nominated by President Donald Trump and has served since October 27, 2020. ...

) 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. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

His remains are interred at the city's Mount Olivet Cemetery. Supreme Court Historical Society at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

.''See also'', Christensen, George A., ''Here Lies the Supreme Court: Revisited'', ''Journal of Supreme Court History'', Volume 33 Issue 1, Pages 17 – 41 (19 Feb 2008),

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

References

External links

Department of Justice, Joseph McKenna Attorney General.
*

Supreme Court Historical Society.
Official Supreme Court media, Joseph McKenna at the

Oyez project The Oyez Project at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law is an unofficial online multimedia archive of the Supreme Court of the United States, especially audio of oral arguments. The website "aims to be a complete a ...

. , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McKenna, Joseph 1843 births 1926 deaths 19th-century American judges 19th-century American politicians 20th-century American judges American people of Irish descent Burials at Mount Olivet Cemetery (Washington, D.C.) Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit McKinley administration cabinet members Republican Party members of the California State Assembly Politicians from Philadelphia People from Solano County, California Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California Columbia Law School alumni Saint Joseph's University alumni United States Attorneys General United States federal judges appointed by Benjamin Harrison United States federal judges appointed by William McKinley Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States Catholics from California Catholics from Pennsylvania

Biography

See also

References

Further reading

External links