[1] Bradwell had founded and published Chicago Legal News from 1868, reporting on the law and continued that work.

Meanwhile, influenced by her case, in 1872 the Illinois legislature passed a state law prohibiting gender discrimination in admission to any occupation or profession (with the exception of the military).

Myra Bradwell raised funds to help aid the wounded soldiers during the American Civil War.

[5] But, her application was denied on the grounds that as a married woman, she could not enter into any legal contracts, as lawyers do in their profession.

On February 5, 1870, the Illinois high court again denied her claim for a law license on the basis of sex.

[1] Chief Justice Charles B. Lawrence stated that "God designed the sexes to occupy different spheres of action".

Despite the efforts of Senator Matthew Hale Carpenter, who argued on her behalf, the Court held 8 to 1 that the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did not include the right to practice a profession.

[1] Justice Joseph P. Bradley wrote, "The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life... [T]he paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother.

[1] Bradwell continued her work on the Chicago Legal News where she was the journal's publisher, business manager, and editor-in-chief.

In Washington, D.C. Belva Lockwood lobbied Congress to pass an anti-discrimination bill to allow women to practice in federal courts.

[7][8] Meanwhile, in 1890, the Illinois Supreme Court acting on its own motion honored her by approving Bradwell's original application.

Her daughter, Bessie Bradwell Helmer, continued in her mother's footsteps, graduating from the Union College of Law in 1882 and publishing the Chicago Legal News until 1925.