A book due out Oct. 20 by University of Dayton law professor Jennifer L. Brinkley chronicles the life of legal pioneer Dorothy Kenyon whose career was nearly undone when U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy named her first on his list of alleged communists.
"Decades after Ruth Bader Ginsburg acknowledged her debt to Dorothy Kenyon, Brinkley brings Kenyon to life in this engaging and important book. It's about time Kenyon's story was told, and Brinkley tells it brilliantly," said Lori A. Ringhand, author of We the Voters: The Constitutional Choices That Shape America's Elections.
Brinkley's Justice Was Her Calling: The Fierce and Fascinating Life of Dorothy Kenyon is the first full-length biography of the New York judge, lawyer and civil liberties champion whose litigation strategies helped transform the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requiring people in similar circumstances be treated the same under the law into a powerful tool for women’s rights.
"Before Justice Ginsburg persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down sex discrimination, Dorothy Kenyon drew the legal blueprint. Kenyon attacked laws treating women differently by exposing their outdated customs through constitutional challenges backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped build the doctrinal foundation later used by Ginsburg. Kenyon was a legal pioneer and her story reminds us that civil liberties endure only when defended," Brinkley said. “She deserves to be placed among prominent figures of the 20th century for advancing the cause of women. This book will be the first biography about her, but I hope it is not the last."
Kenyon was the only woman appointed by the League of Nations to study the legal status of women worldwide and was a U.S. delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
The book is available for purchase at https://www.ucpress.edu/books/justice-was-her-calling/hardcover; Use promo code UCPSAVE30 at checkout.
Brinkley joined the UD School of Law in August 2026 to teach family law, criminal law and evidence. Before coming to UD, she was a family law and criminal defense lawyer and an assistant county attorney in Kentucky where she won awards for her work, including the University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law Alumni Young Professional Award. Brinkley has taught at the University of Colorado at Denver, Western Kentucky University and University of West Florida, and published articles in several law reviews.
For interviews, contact Shawn Robinson, associate director of news and communications, at srobinson1@udayton.edu.