A18
Atlas Star
Posts: 23,794
Political Matrix
E: 9.23, S: -6.35
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« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2006, 02:45:10 PM » |
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McKenna's votes and the reasoning behind them were often inconsistent, making it a bit difficult to sum up his career. The best summary of his tenure on the court is that he took a broad view of congressional authority, but was somewhat more suspicious of state power. This meant an obsessively lenient interpretation of the Commerce Clause and occasional invocations of "substantive due process," his votes in the latter category being the ones hard to reconcile.
The truth is that there's not a single memorable opinion (good or bad) with his name on it. On balance, he led an undistinguished career.
In his later years on the bench, McKenna became mentally decrepit, but refused to retire. In 1924, his colleagues agreed not to decide any cases where his vote would be decisive. He finally stepped down in 1925, leaving no discernable (certainly not enduring) mark on the law. Those opinions of his that are not completely forgotten simply applied settled law without much controversy.
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