Joseph McKenna
Joseph McKenna ( born August 10, 1843 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, † November 21, 1926 in Washington DC) was an American lawyer, politician, Minister of Justice ( Attorney General ) and judge at the United States Supreme Court
Study and career
The son of Irish immigrants first completed a general education studies at Saint Joseph's College in Philadelphia. Then he studied law at the Collegiate Institute in Benicia (California), he ( LL.B. ) ended with a 1864 Bachelor of Laws.
After admission to the bar he was already 1865-1869 District Attorney in Solano County. 1892 President Benjamin Harrison appointed him judge of the 9th District Court of Appeals, which is responsible for the districts of Alaska, Arizona, Central, Eastern, and Southern California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and eastern and western Washington. This office he held until March 4, 1897.
His rapid career advancement he owed in particular the railway entrepreneur and politician Leland Stanford.
Political career
Congressman
McKenna began his political career with election to the California State Assembly, where he remained from 1875 to 1877 two years.
On 4 March 1885 he was a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, after he had in 1876 and 1878 unsuccessful candidate for Congress. There he acted as a member of the Republican Party until 28 March 1892, the interests of the third congressional district of California. At times he was a member of the influential Committee on Ways and Means, where he became friends with William McKinley.
Minister of Justice under President McKinley and judges of the Supreme Court
On March 5, 1897 appointed him elected to the U.S. President William McKinley as Minister of Justice ( Attorney General ) in his cabinet. However, he held that post only until 25 January 1898 and was replaced by John W. Griggs.
President McKinley appointed him on January 26, 1898 against the opposition by some senators to the judge at the United States Supreme Court Following this, he completed a few months several courses at Columbia Law School in order to prove his fitness for the office of judge.
As a judge, he was seldom representative of the majority opinion and most authors of dissenting opinions. McKenna was also the author of the important decision Hoke v. United States, in 1910 passed the Mann Act was confirmed by the Supreme Court. His most important reasons for the judgment took place during the attempted resolution of the so-called "Steel Trust " instead. 1911 tried the U.S. federal government to apply the antitrust laws of the State to break up U.S. Steel. This attempt failed, however, because the court's opinion, written by McKenna, which was adopted by four votes to three in the Supreme Court pointed out, that the United States Steel Corp.. and its subordinate companies do not constitute a company within the meaning of the Sherman Anti -Trust Act.
On January 5, 1925, he resigned after nearly 27 years in office at the request of the then Supreme Judge, William Howard Taft, back after he had been ten years earlier suffered a stroke.