In 1893 Mr. McKenna was appointed by President Harrison United States circuit judge, for the ninth Pacific Coast circuit, to succeed Lorenzo Sawyer. This necessitated his resignation from congress. He continued in this judicial capacity for four years, when he entered President McKinley’s cabinet March, 1897, as attorney-general of the United States, succeeding Honorable Judson Harmon of Ohio. A vacancy occurred in the United States Supreme court within the following year, by the retirement of Mr. Justice Stephen J. Field of California, and January 21, 1898, President McKinley designated Mr. McKenna as associate justice of that tribunal. He was unanimously confirmed by the senate, and took his seat January 26th, following. Since that time his services and his career have become a part of the annals of that court.
The opinions pronounced by Justice McKenna, as an appellate judge, are to be found in the Federal reports beginning about volume forty-nine. Upon examination they show succinctness of style, breadth of argument and precision of comment that will prompt any layman who reads them, to pronounce them both good common sense and good common law. Many cases arose within his circuit requiring tact as well as skill in construing, applying and expounding international law — especially cases respecting the treatment of the Chinese immigrants and their status here. He met these issues in a truly judicial spirit, evincing at the same time a mastery in the interpretation of international conventions, and a delicacy in dealing with legal complications, that have since been emphasized in larger degree.
Although his career as attorney-general was short, it was nevertheless characterized by ability and a sagacious insight into the manifold duties of the office. Perhaps his most distinctive work in this position was an opinion rendered on section twenty-two of the Dingley Tariff act, and his part in the settlement of the Union Pacific Railroad controversy.
When appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, he was a man of ripe attainments and of unusually varied legal and judicial experience. His judicial opinions amply sustain the wisdom of his appointment. They exhibit breadth of judgment, freedom from prejudice, legal learning, and a judicious application of the principles of public ethics.
Justice McKenna was married in San Francisco, June 10, 1869, to Amanda, daughter of F. G. Borneman. They have one son and three daughters.
