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Supreme
Court Justices
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John McKinley (1780-1852) |
 John
McKinley was born in Virginia on May 1, 1780. He moved as a child to
Kentucky, and was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1800. McKinley later
moved to Alabama to practice law. McKinley served in the Alabama
legislature in the early 1820s, and was appointed by it to the United
States Senate in 1826. McKinley lost his seat in 1830. In April 1837,
newly inaugurated President Martin Van Buren nominated McKinley to the
Court. The Senate rejected McKinley's nomination. In September, Van
Buren re-nominated McKinley to the Court. Within a week, the Senate
confirmed the nomination. McKinley took his oath of office on January 9,
1838, shortly before the Court's 1838 Term began.
In 15 years on the Court, McKinley wrote a total of 20 opinions. His most notable opinion was as the sole acknowledged dissenter in Bank of Augusta v. Earle (1839), in which the Court held that a state could prohibit a foreign (that is, incorporated in another state) corporation from doing business in that state, but could do so only if such exclusion was expressly stated. Alabama had failed to make the exclusion of foreign banks clear, so the bank won the case. McKinley dissented on the ground that states could exclude any foreign corporation as it pleased. McKinley was required to ride circuit in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. This vast territory, in an age in which railroads had just barely linked a few northern cities, made McKinley's work extremely difficult. McKinley lived in Louisville, Kentucky while on the Court, to facilitate his travels to Washington when the Court was in session. McKinley died on July 19, 1852. |
