InsideGov

Supreme Court · Associate Justice

James McReynolds

Democratic appointee: Appointed by Woodrow Wilson (D)

Served 1914–1941 · 4 terms in the data

Confirmed 44–6

Biography

James Clark McReynolds was an American lawyer and judge from Tennessee who served as United States Attorney General under President Woodrow Wilson and as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He served on the Court from 1914 to his retirement in 1941.

Source: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ideology over time

McReynolds and the 12 justices who overlapped with McReynolds, 1937–1940

−4−20+2+419371940More conservativeMore liberalMcReynoldsO. RobertsHughesStoneFrankfurterReedMurphyDouglasBlack
  • James McReynolds
  • 95% credible interval
  • Peer, appointed by a Democrat
  • Peer, appointed by a Republican
  • Court median
How to read this

Martin–Quinn scores place each justice on a single liberal–conservative dimension, estimated from their votes across terms, with scores allowed to shift from one term to the next. Higher is more conservative. The shaded band is the credible interval: wider when the record is thin, especially in a justice’s first terms, and narrower as votes accumulate.

Where McReynolds sits among all justices

Career average, every justice in the data set

−4−20+2+43.383.59

McReynolds’s range across terms

Served alongside McReynolds

12 justices

Closest career average first. Filled dot: the peer. Ring: McReynolds.

JusticeTogetherCareer avg
Pierce Butler1937–1938career average 2.23 versus McReynolds at 3.50George Sutherland1937career average 1.60 versus McReynolds at 3.50Owen Roberts1937–1940career average 1.52 versus McReynolds at 3.50Felix Frankfurter1938–1940career average 0.52 versus McReynolds at 3.50Stanley Reed1937–1940career average 0.37 versus McReynolds at 3.50Charles Hughes1937–1940career average 0.19 versus McReynolds at 3.50Harlan Stone1937–1940career average 0.01 versus McReynolds at 3.50Louis Brandeis1937–1938career average −0.61 versus McReynolds at 3.50Benjamin Cardozo1937career average −1.59 versus McReynolds at 3.50Frank Murphy1939–1940career average −1.59 versus McReynolds at 3.50Hugo Black1937–1940career average −1.76 versus McReynolds at 3.50William Douglas1938–1940career average −4.70 versus McReynolds at 3.50

Scores: Martin, Andrew D. and Kevin M. Quinn. 2002. “Dynamic Ideal Point Estimation via Markov Chain Monte Carlo for the U.S. Supreme Court, 1953–1999.” Political Analysis 10:134–153, from mqscores.wustl.edu. Appointment data: Federal Judicial Center biographical directory. Biographies: Wikipedia, text abridged, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Portraits: public-domain images via Wikimedia Commons.