In 1894 and 1896, McReynolds served as assistant district attorney of the sixth judicial circuit court of Tennessee. He moved to
Chattanooga in 1896 and continued the practice of law. He was appointed judge of the criminal court for the sixth circuit of Tennessee on April 16, 1903. It was there that he heard the case State of Tennessee versus Ed Johnson, the case that later became
United States v. Shipp. He was subsequently elected and twice re-elected to the same office. He served until February 1, 1923, when he resigned, having been elected to Congress. McReynolds was elected as a
Democrat to the
Sixty-eighth and to the eight succeeding Congresses. During the
Seventy-second through
Seventy-sixth Congresses, he was the chairman of the
House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He served in the House from March 4, 1923, until his death. In 1933, he was a delegate to the International Monetary and Economic Conference at
London,
England. ==Death==