Courts in the Classroom
Supreme Court of Indiana
Division of State Court Administration
30 S. Meridian Street, Ste 500
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Dr. Elizabeth R. Osborn
Coordinator for
Public History and
Education Programs
Pho: 317.233.8682
elizabeth.osborn@courts.IN.gov
Sarah Kidwell
Outreach Coordinator
Pho: 317.234.3055
sarah.kidwell@courts.IN.gov
2011 Outstanding Public
History Project Award
from the National Council
on Public History
Justice Biographies
Justice John Taliaferro McKinney
(Sixth Justice)
Justice McKinney was born in 1796, in Caroline County, Virginia, and died March 4, 1837, at Brookville, Indiana.406
He was admitted to the Indiana bar on March 15, 1815. Two years later, he pleaded guilty to fistfighting in court and was fined five dollars. He practiced law in Brookville, Indiana. McKinney served two terms as an Indiana State Representative and three terms as an Indiana State Senator. He served in the senate until January 28, 1831, when he was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court. He apparently saw military service during the War of 1812, but his biographical records are sketchy. Unfortunately, he contracted tuberculosis and died during his term of office.407
406. 1 BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY, supra note 55, at 254-55.
407. 1 MONKS, supra note 25, at 197-98; 1 BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY, supra note 55, at 254-55.
Source: Browning, Minde C., Richard Humphrey, and Bruce Kleinschmidt. "Biographical Sketches of Indiana Supreme Court Justices." Indiana Law Review: Vol. 30, No. 1, 1997. View this source in PDF format.
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