ALUMNI PERSPECTIVE
1
MYRON H. “MIKE” BRIGHT CLASS OF 1947 “THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS,”
Judge Bright calls himself with a chuckle. At 96, he has served more than 47 years as a working judge and is the last remaining appointee of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who nominated Bright to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in 40
Perspectives FALL 2015
law.umn.edu
1968. Although his annual caseload is now about 50, down from 175, and his walker helps him reach his chair, Bright still sits, and still cares about all people. Raised by Russian immigrant parents among Serbs, Slovenians, Finns, and Italians in Eveleth, Minnesota, Bright sought career advice from his college counselor, who told him he’d excel at either law or advertising, but “you won’t hurt yourself by learning a little bit of law.” Bright reminisces in Goodbye Mike, Hello Judge: My Journey for Justice (North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies Press, 2015), which Touro Law School professor Jeffrey Brandon Morris deems “as sprightly and irrepressible as the man.” Young Republican Bright turned Democrat early on, befriending many of that era’s influencers, plunging into
politics, and, after practicing law for two decades in Fargo, North Dakota, wielding substantial influence from the bench. “A legal issue is to me like a mathematical problem that requires a reasoned solution. I loved it as a student, loved it as a lawyer, and of course I love it as a judge,” says Bright, whose 50 years of federal service includes nearly four years in World War II. “LBJ was probably the first president in history to bring civil rights to the people in this country suffering from discrimination. Judge Gerald Heaney (’41), Judge Donald P. Lay, and I spearheaded significant cases that extended those rights to women and minorities,” he says. Litigation has changed during his tenure. Discovery is more important and expensive, raising costs enough to
Bright Photo: Michael Vosburg of The Forum
ALUMNI PROFILES