Joseph McKenna

Details

Birth

August 10, 1843 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Death

November 21, 1926

Law school

columbia university

Prior experience

Various legal and public service prior to appointment

Biography

Joseph McKenna (August 10, 1843 – November 21, 1926) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1898 to 1925. Born in Philadelphia to Irish immigrant parents, McKenna moved to California as a child and was admitted to the California bar in 1865 after studying law privately. He served as district attorney of Solano County before winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served four terms from 1885 to 1892. McKenna was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1892 and later served as U.S. Attorney General under President William McKinley from 1897 to 1898. President McKinley nominated McKenna to the Supreme Court in December 1897, and he was confirmed by the Senate in January 1898. During his 26-year tenure, McKenna generally supported progressive reforms and federal regulatory power, though his jurisprudence was often inconsistent. He wrote the majority opinion in *Hipolite Egg Co. v. United States* (1911), which upheld federal power under the Pure Food and Drug Act, and in *Hoke v. United States* (1913), which sustained the Mann Act's prohibition on interstate transportation for immoral purposes. However, McKenna also authored opinions limiting labor rights, including *Adair v. United States* (1908), which struck down federal legislation protecting union membership. His intellectual limitations and declining mental faculties in later years drew criticism from colleagues. McKenna retired in 1925 after Chief Justice William Howard Taft and other justices pressed him to step down due to concerns about his competency.

Notable opinions

• Northern Securities Co. v. United States
• United States v. E. C. Knight Co.