Joseph McKenna
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- For Joseph McKenna the member (Volunteer) in the Irish Republican Army, see List of members of the Irish Republican Army.
| Joseph McKenna | |
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| In office 1892 – March 4, 1897 |
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| Preceded by | Lorenzo Sawyer |
| Succeeded by | William W. Morrow |
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| In office March 5, 1897 – January 25, 1898 |
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| Preceded by | Judson Harmon |
| Succeeded by | John W. Griggs |
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| In office January 26, 1898 – January 5, 1925 |
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| Preceded by | Stephen Johnson Field |
| Succeeded by | Harlan Fiske Stone |
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| Born | August 10, 1843 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | November 21, 1926 (aged 83) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Amanda Borneman McKenna |
| Profession | Lawyer, Politician |
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.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Irish 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 served in the California State Assembly for two years (1875-1877).
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 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 faced opposition to his appointment in the Senate, but his supporters there enabled him to win confirmation in January 1898. 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.
McKenna was known to be a centrist, and authored few dissents. His most noteworthy opinions are Hipolite Egg Co. v. United States, in which a unanimous Court upheld the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, and Hoke v. United States, which upheld the Mann Act. While McKenna was generally quite favorable to federal power, he voted with the majority in 1905's Lochner v. New York, which struck down a state maximum-hours law for bakery workers.
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.
McKenna was married to Amanda Borneman in 1869, and the couple bore three daughters and one son. He died in 1926 in Washington, D.C., and he is buried at the city's Mount Olivet Cemetery.
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| California Assembly | ||
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| Preceded by James Dixon, William H. Northcutt, W. S. M. Wright |
California State Assemblyman, 19th District (Solano County seat) 1875-1877 (with 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 |
Attorney General of the United States 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 26, 1898 – January 5, 1925 |
Succeeded by Harlan Fiske Stone |
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