James Clark McReynolds

Details

Birth

February 3, 1862 · Elkton, Kentucky

Death

August 24, 1946

Law school

virginia, university of

Prior experience

Various legal and public service prior to appointment

Biography

James Clark McReynolds (February 3, 1862 – August 24, 1946) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court who served from 1914 to 1941. Born in Elkton, Kentucky, to a prominent family, McReynolds graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1882 and earned his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1884. After practicing law in Nashville, he served as United States Attorney General under President Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1914, where he gained recognition for his aggressive antitrust enforcement, including the breakup of major monopolies. Wilson nominated McReynolds to the Supreme Court in 1914, expecting him to continue his progressive approach to business regulation. However, McReynolds quickly became one of the Court's most conservative members, forming part of the "Four Horsemen" alongside Justices George Sutherland, Pierce Butler, and Willis Van Devanter. This group consistently opposed New Deal legislation during the 1930s, striking down numerous federal programs as unconstitutional expansions of government power. McReynolds authored the majority opinion in *Meyer v. Nebraska* (1923), which established substantive due process protections for private education and foreign language instruction, and wrote the dissent in *Nebbia v. New York* (1934), opposing price regulation of businesses. McReynolds was notorious for his difficult personality and bigoted views, including anti-Semitism that led him to refuse sitting for official Court photographs with Jewish justices Louis Brandeis and Benjamin Cardozo. His rigid constitutional interpretation and opposition to federal regulatory power made him increasingly isolated as the Court shifted toward accepting expanded government authority. He retired in 1941, leaving a legacy primarily defined by his staunch opposition to the growth of federal power and his role in the constitutional crisis over New Deal legislation.

Notable opinions

• Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States
• Olmstead v. United States