[5] Bacon worked in various positions within the United States Department of Justice from 1956 to 1970,[5] and during this time, she "helped draft the District of Columbia's controversial no-knock crime bill",[6] and "served under Ramsey Clark and helped draft legislation for court reform in the District of Columbia.
[5] She was considered to be a nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States by both Presidents Reagan and Nixon.
As of June 2010, Bacon was a "distinguished lecturer" on the faculty of the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law.
[7] In 1986, after "complaints" by "prosecutors and defense lawyers" about her appearing to be "confused and disoriented", Bacon was treated for alcohol abuse, as documented by Elsa Walsh in The Washington Post.
[8] In 1987, the highest appellate court in the District of Columbia reversed Bacon's ruling against Georgetown University LGBTQ undergraduate and law students in Gay Rights Coalition v. Georgetown University, in which Bacon had found that Georgetown's religious origin protected it from complying with the District of Columbia Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.