James Murray Kempton was an American journalist and social and political commentator. He won a National Book Award in 1974 for The Briar Patch: The People of the State of New York versus Lumumba Shakur, et al. Reprinted, 1997, with new subtitle The Trial of the Panther 21. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1985 "for witty and insightful reflection on public issues in 1984 and throughout a distinguished career."