Clarke's impact on the Court's jurisprudence was limited by his relatively brief service on it. On September 1, 1922, Clarke sent a letter to President Warren G. Harding announcing his intention to resign from the Court. His decision was motivated by a number of factors. Apart from his dissatisfaction with his work as a justice and his ongoing difficulties with McReynolds, Clarke had recently suffered the loss of his sisters Ida and Alice. Moreover, having witnessed the physical decline of Chief Justice Edward Douglass White, he wished to avoid a similar deterioration while on the bench. Clarke would have few regrets about his decision, and informed his successor, George Sutherland, that the latter was embarking on "a dog's life."