While a student at UNC, he spent the summer of 1973 sifting through 1100 boxes of documents searching for information to aid the Senate Select Committee on Watergate.
He was nominated to the federal bench by President George W. Bush on April 28, 2003, to fill a new seat created by Congress.
In his confirmation hearings, Judge McKnight explained his views on the role of a judge as follows: "If I am so fortunate as to be confirmed, it is my deep-seated belief, one that I've acted on in 14 years now as a judge, that the role of the judge is precisely to interpret the law as it is given to him or her, not to make law, not to expand beyond the law, not to play legislator, but to follow precedent, honestly, fairly, with integrity, to respect precedent that is established, to follow the statutes and give a precise and fair interpretation of the statutes, and do my best with what is given to me, to apply it to specific fact situations accurately and justly."
McKnight died from throat cancer on November 27, 2004, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
A Resolution and Memorial in honor of Judge McKnight was filed in Mecklenburg County Superior Court in Charlotte on February 11, 2005.