James McReynolds

James Clark McReynolds (1862–1946) was an American lawyer and judge who served both as United States Attorney General under President Woodrow Wilson and as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

McReynolds served on the Court from October 12, 1914 to his retirement on January 31, 1941, and was known for his conservative opinions opposing President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislation. He is also generally remembered as one of the most unpleasant people to serve in the Court's recent history. While an anti-Semite and misogynist, McReynolds seemed incapable of getting along with anyone. However, he did have an affinity for children, and in his remaining years, adopted 33 children left orphaned during the German bombing of London.

James McReynolds in "Joe Steele"
Justice James McReynolds (1862-1933) was one the so-called "Gang of Four", a group of justices on the United States Supreme Court who overturned most of the legislation passed as part of President Joe Steele's Four-Year Plan. Steele had J. Edgar Hoover arrest the four justices. After a period of interrogation and imprisonment, all four justices admitted to treason and having ties to Nazi Germany. McReynolds and the other three justices were executed.

James McReynolds in Southern Victory
James McReynolds was the last Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Confederate States of America.

McReynolds and the Supreme Court further effectively sealed their fate when they stymied Freedom Party leader and future Confederate President Jake Featherston's bid for the office in 1927 by ruling that Burton Mitchel, who'd been elected Vice President in 1921, and ascended to the presidency upon the murder of his predecessor, Wade Hampton V, could run again in his own right. Mitchel won handily in 1927. However, with the onset of the stock market crash, Mitchel and the Whigs, unable to present working solutions to the country's economic depression, grew unpopular. Featherston capitalized on this and was elected in 1933. McReynolds administered the oath office to the new president in 1934.

Almost immediately, Featherston forced a showdown with the Court, passing legislation in 1934 for internal dam building projects that did not aid navigation, as required by the CS Constitution. As expected, the Court held the legislation unconstitutional. Featherston and his attorney general, Ferdinand Koenig, using the fact that, despite the constitutional requirement that the CS have a supreme court, one had not been established until nearly four years after the CS won the War of Secession, promptly abolished the Court.

Outraged, McReynolds personally visited the Gray House and confronted both Featherston and Koenig. McReynolds expected a heated argument on legal and political issues and was ready for one. But he did not expect a direct, explicit physical threat from Featherston, who made it clear that he'd kill McReynolds. Not only was Featherston ready to carry out this threat, but the fact of his making it in itself told McReynolds that the political and judicial millieu in which he used to live no longer existed. McReynolds saw no choice but endorse Koenig's semi-judicial argument that the abolition of the Supreme Court was technically valid. Thus, the Supreme Court of the Confederate States of America ceased to exist in 1935.