[1] In 1936 she chaired a committee to study procedure in women's courts where she called for more sympathetic treatment of sex workers and stronger prosecution of their clients and pimps.

[1] Already well-known in academic, legal, and political circles, in 1950 Dorothy Kenyon made national news when Senator Joseph R. McCarthy named her as the first person to be investigated by the Tydings Committee.

"[4] Kenyon responded aggressively to McCarthy's accusations by declaring: "He's a lowdown worm and although it ought to be beneath my dignity to answer him, I'm mad enough to say that he's a liar and he can go to hell.

[6][3][2] During the 1950s and 1960s, Kenyon prepared briefs for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and worked for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

[1] In 1966, Murray and Dorothy Kenyon successfully argued White v. Crook, a case in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that women have an equal right to serve on juries.

[7] Kenyon had lengthy and intense romantic relationships with various men throughout her adult life, including Walcott Pitkin, Elihu Root Jr., and L. V. Pulsifer.

[1] Kenyon participated in various aspects of President Johnson's War on Poverty and at age 80, she worked tirelessly and almost single-handedly to establish legal services for the poor on the Lower West Side of Manhattan.

When Kenyon was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 1969, she concealed the severity of her illness from most people and refused to suspend or even curtail her legal or political work.