McConnell graduated from Michigan State University's James Madison College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976.

[9][10] He has likewise argued that the Court's decision in Bolling v. Sharpe was correct but should have been reached on other grounds, as Congress never "required that the schools of the District of Columbia be segregated.

Bush and his supporters will put on a brave face and defend this decision, but I cannot imagine that there is much joy in Austin tonight.

On September 4, 2001, President George W. Bush nominated McConnell to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

First, in Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal (2006),[16] a case involving the religious use of a hallucinogenic tea, the Supreme Court affirmed 8–0 a Tenth Circuit en banc decision to which Judge McConnell wrote a concurring opinion Archived January 11, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.

Second, in Fernandez-Vargas v. Gonzales (2008),[17] a case involving the retroactive application of a statutory provision limiting appeals from immigration removal orders, the Supreme Court affirmed 8–1 a Tenth Circuit panel decision written by Judge McConnell.

Third, in Begay v. United States (2008),[18] a case about whether a felony conviction for driving under the influence is a crime of violence for purposes of the Armed Career Criminal Act, the Supreme Court reversed 6–3 a Tenth Circuit panel decision from which McConnell dissented.

Fourth, in Pleasant Grove City v. Summum (2009),[19] a case involving whether the presence of a Ten Commandments monument on government property gave another religion a First Amendment right to place its own monument on the same property, the Supreme Court unanimously reversed a Tenth Circuit panel decision that McConnell had challenged by writing a dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc.

It would make the power of the president to name Supreme Court justices regular, fair, and consistent, and thus likely would lower the political stakes of each nomination.