Joseph McKenna

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joseph McKenna

Joseph McKenna (born August 10, 1843 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † November 21, 1926 in Washington, DC ) was an American lawyer, politician , attorney general and judge at the United States Supreme Court .

Studies and professional career

The son of Irish immigrants first completed a general education program at Saint Joseph's College in Philadelphia. This was followed by a law degree at the Collegiate Institute in Benicia ( California ), which he completed with an 1864 Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.).

After his admission to the bar, he was already from 1865 to 1869 District Attorney in Solano County . In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison appointed him as a judge on the 9th District Court of Appeal for the counties of Alaska , Arizona , central, eastern and southern California , Hawaii , Idaho , Montana , Nevada , Oregon, and eastern and western Washington . He held this office until March 4, 1897.

He owed his rapid professional advancement in particular to the railroad entrepreneur and politician Leland Stanford .

Political career

Congressman

McKenna began his political career with the election to the California State Assembly , which he served two years from 1875 to 1877.

On March 4, 1885, he became a member of the US House of Representatives , after he had run unsuccessfully for Congress in 1876 and 1878 . There he represented the interests of the third congressional electoral district of California as a member of the Republican Party until March 28, 1892 . At times he was a member of the influential Committee on Ways and Means , where he became friends with William McKinley .

Attorney General under President McKinley and Supreme Court Justice

On March 5, 1897, William McKinley, who was elected President of the United States, appointed him as Attorney General in his cabinet . He held this office only until January 25, 1898 and was then replaced by John W. Griggs .

Supreme Court of the United States (around 1900). Left to right: Justice Peckham , Justice Brewer , Justice Shiras , Justice Harlan , Chief Justice Fuller , Justice White , Justice Gray , Justice McKenna, Justice Brown

President McKinley appointed him a judge in the United States Supreme Court on January 26, 1898, against opposition from some senators . He then completed several courses at Columbia Law School over a period of several months to prove his suitability for the office of judge.

As a judge, he was seldom a majority opinion representative and usually the author of dissenting opinions. McKenna was among other things the author of the important decision Hoke v. United States , where the 1910 Mann Act was upheld by the Supreme Court. His most important reasoning for the judgment took place in the context of the attempted dissolution of the so-called "Steel Trust". In 1911, the US federal government attempted to use federal antitrust laws to break up US Steel . This attempt failed, however, as McKenna's statement of reasons, which was adopted by four to three votes in the Supreme Court, stated that the United States Steel Corp. and its subsidiary companies were not a company under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

On January 5, 1925, after nearly 27 years in office, he resigned at the request of the then Chief Justice , William Howard Taft , after suffering a stroke ten years earlier .

literature

  • McDevitt, Matthew, Brother: Joseph McKenna: Associate Justice of the United States . The Catholic University of America Press, Washington DC 1946 (Reprinted by Da Capo Press, New York 1974).
  • Impetuous, Irish . In: TIME magazine , November 29, 1926; obituary

Web links

Commons : Joseph McKenna  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
Wikisource: Joseph McKenna  - Sources and full texts (English)
personal data
SURNAME McKenna, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1843
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH November 21, 1926
Place of death Washington, DC