Becoming Steve Bright

Abstract

This is a "Director's Cut" version of material that appears in condensed form in Robert L. Tsai, "Demand the Impossible: One Lawyer's Pursuit of Equal Justice for All" (Norton 2024). This essay to be published in Kentucky Law Journal was originally Chapter One. Drawing on archival documents and interviews, this essay delves into Stephen Bright's childhood growing up in Kentucky first in segregated Danville and later in Lexington once he emerges as a social activist and student body president. Special attention is paid to the Vietnam era protests that engulfed the University of Kentucky in the wake of the Kent State massacre, the political exploitation of social unrest by the governor and weak leadership by university officials, and the federal court litigation over the governor's emergency measures and the university's disciplinary process afterward.

Keywords: legal history, kent state, first amendment, courts, free speech, emergency power, war on crime, protest, Vietnam War, Nixon, constitutional law