Bench & Bar September/October 2026

PRESIDENT'S PAGE

and service to others. He is an inspiration to all lawyers. He is a most worthy recipient of the ABA’s highest honor. We are proud John is a Kentucky lawyer. He represents the best of us and what we strive to be as legal professionals. I was honored to represent Kentucky’s attor neys in Chicago when John received the ABA Medal this summer. What a moment it was to witness this humble man honored by his peers and state that what he was most proud of in a lifetime of achievements was becoming a citizen of the United States of America. John’s journey from Holocaust survivor as a boy to recognition at the high est level of the legal profession is a profound example of America at its best. Most of us will never be involved in high profile cases like John Rosenberg experi enced in his career. But perhaps we can find within ourselves some small amount of the courage he displayed when we face cases and moments of challenge in our own lives and careers. If we do this and stand up for a worthy ideal or act to help others in their search for justice, then we can each send out our own tiny ripple of hope. In this way, we can all continue John’s work of raising the bar throughout Kentucky. That is an aspi ration worth celebrating.

impact the unified Court of Justice has had on the pursuit of justice throughout the Commonwealth over the last 50 years. Lastly, I want to call your attention to one other milestone that deserves significant recognition and celebration. I am pleased to share with you that one of our great Kentucky attorneys, John Rosen berg, has been named the recipient of the American Bar Association (ABA) Medal. The ABA Medal is bestowed upon a lawyer for exceptionally distinguished service to the cause of American jurisprudence. Mr. Rosenberg is the first Kentucky attorney to receive this prestigious award. It is not an overstatement to say that John Rosenberg is an American hero. As a young boy growing up in Germany, John and his family watched the Nazis destroy their synagogue and his father was taken to the Buchenwald concentration camp. Fortu nately, his father was spared and released from that camp and the family was given 30 days to leave Germany. They spent a year in an internment camp in Holland and then came to the United States to start a new life. At a young age, John Rosenberg appreciated what life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi ness meant. John grew up and joined the United States Air Force and then studied law at the Uni versity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He witnessed segregation as he grew up in the south and went to work for the U.S.

Department of Justice in the 1960s during the civil rights movement. As a lawyer in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, John liti gated significant cases in the south on high profile matters, including working on the prosecution team in the murder case where three voter registration workers were killed in Neshoba County, Mississippi. This case was portrayed in the 1988 movie, Missis sippi Burning. He also successfully tried the first voting rights case in the south after the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. John and his wife, Jean, came to Kentucky in 1970 when he became the director of the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky, known as AppalReD Legal Aid. He served in that role until 2002. His work at AppalReD helped miners who were being impacted by the harmful effects of strip-mining, and it grew to include provid ing legal services for survivors of domestic violence, to veterans, as well as assistance to low-income citizens with housing mat ters, expungements, disaster recovery, and innumerable other matters. Along the way, John was a champion for legal aid programs across the Commonwealth and the nation, always trying to improve the lives of his neighbors. He understands that the rule of law is not an abstract concept. It is the foundational cornerstone of the American system of justice that must be valued and protected. John Rosenberg is now in his mid-nineties and retains his passion for access to justice

Left: Kentucky attorney John Rosenberg accepting the ABA Medal from ABA President Michelle A. Behnke. Right: KBA Executive Director John D. Meyers, ABA Medal Recipient John Rosenberg and KBA President Matthew P. Cook.

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