In 2016, he ended almost 35 years at the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, first as director from 1982 to 2005, and then as president and senior counsel from 2006 to 2016.

He has represented people facing the death penalty at trials and on appeals, and prisoners in challenges to inhumane conditions and practices; written essays and articles on the right to counsel, racial discrimination in the criminal legal system, judicial independence, and other topics, which have been published in scholarly publications, books, magazines and newspapers; and testified before committees of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

The Fulton County Daily Report named Bright as 'Agitator (and Newsmaker) of the Year'[5] in 2003 for his contribution to bringing about creation of a public defender system in Georgia by bringing lawsuits and issuing reports that led to the state legislature's passage of the Georgia Indigent Defense Act.

[6] Bright has argued before the Supreme Court in the cases of McWilliams v. Dunn (2017), Foster v. Chatman (2016), Snyder v. Louisiana (2008), and Amadeo v. Zant (1988).

In 2023, Bright co-authored, with James Kwak the book The Fear of Too Much Justice: Race, Poverty, and the Persistence of Inequality in the Criminal Courts (ISBN 978-1620970256) [8] He has received honorary degrees from Georgetown, Emory, Northeastern, Louisville and Quinnipiac universities, the University of Kentucky, Centre College, Berea College, the University of Central England, and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and other awards.