Before Ruth Bader Ginsburg convinced the Supreme Court to overturn sex discrimination, Dorothy Kenyon devised the legal scheme.
Justice Was Her Mission is the first comprehensive biography of a New York judge, lawyer, and civil liberties advocate whose legal strategies helped turn an equal protection clause into an effective tool for women's rights. For decades, from the Progressive Era through the New Deal program to the rise of the second wave of feminism, DorothyKenyans are at the forefront of reform.
As a veteran member of the National Council of the American Civil Liberties Union, the only woman appointed by the League of Nations to study the legal status of women globally, and a delegate of the United States to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, Kenyon pushed the issue of equality onto the world stage long before it was widely embraced. Her career almost collapsed when Senator Joseph McCarthy listed her as number one on his list of defendants.of communism, a false accusation that cast a shadow over her career.
Based on recent letters, letters, and archival research, Jennifer L. Brinkley Kenyon to her deserved status as a legal pioneer and reminds us that civil liberties only last when defended.
