"Emission theory, also called emitter theory or ballistic theory of light, was a competing theory for the special theory of relativity, explaining the results of the Michelson–Morley experiment of 1887...The name most often associated with emission theory is Isaac Newton. In his corpuscular theory Newton visualized light "corpuscles" being thrown off from hot bodies at a nominal speed of c with respect to the emitting object, and obeying the usual laws of Newtonian mechanics, and we then expect light to be moving towards us with a speed that is offset by the speed of the distant emitter (c ± v)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emission_theory

Banesh Hoffmann, Relativity and Its Roots, p.92: "Moreover, if light consists of particles, as Einstein had suggested in his paper submitted just thirteen weeks before this one, the second principle seems absurd: A stone thrown from a speeding train can do far more damage than one thrown from a train at rest; the speed of the particle is not independent of the motion of the object emitting it. And if we take light to consist of particles and assume that these particles obey Newton's laws, they will conform to Newtonian relativity and thus automatically account for the null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment without recourse to contracting lengths, local time, or Lorentz transformations. Yet, as we have seen, Einstein resisted the temptation to account for the null result in terms of particles of light and simple, familiar Newtonian ideas, and introduced as his second postulate something that was more or less obvious when thought of in terms of waves in an ether. If it was so obvious, though, why did he need to state it as a principle? Because, having taken from the idea of light waves in the ether the one aspect that he needed, he declared early in his paper, to quote his own words, that "the introduction of a 'luminiferous ether' will prove to be superfluous." https://www.amazon.com/Relativity-Its-Roots-Banesh-Hoffmann/dp/0486406768

Albert Einstein: "I introduced the principle of the constancy of the velocity of light, which I borrowed from H. A. Lorentz's theory of the stationary luminiferous ether." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorentz_ether_theory

So Einstein "resisted the temptation" to adopt Newton's variable speed of light, even though it had been directly ("without recourse to contracting lengths, local time, or Lorentz transformations") confirmed by the Michelson-Morley experiment, and "borrowed" the constancy of the speed of light from the theory of the nonexistent ether. Theoreticians did not protest - they were all etherists and hated Newton's particle model of light.

In 1921 Einstein, already a deity, proclaimed that the Michelson-Morley experiment had gloriously confirmed...the constancy of the speed of light:

The New York Times, April 19, 1921: "The special relativity arose from the question of whether light had an invariable velocity in free space, he [Einstein] said. The velocity of light could only be measured relative to a body or a co-ordinate system. He sketched a co-ordinate system K to which light had a velocity C. Whether the system was in motion or not was the fundamental principle. This has been developed through the researches of Maxwell and Lorentz, the principle of the constancy of the velocity of light having been based on many of their experiments. But did it hold for only one system? he asked. He gave the example of a street and a vehicle moving on that street. If the velocity of light was C for the street was it also C for the vehicle? If a second co-ordinate system K was introduced, moving with the velocity V, did light have the velocity of C here? When the light traveled the system moved with it, so it would appear that light moved slower and the principle apparently did not hold. Many famous experiments had been made on this point. Michelson showed that relative to the moving co-ordinate system K1, the light traveled with the same velocity as relative to K, which is contrary to the above observation. How could this be reconciled? Professor Einstein asked." https://ebay.com/itm/ALBERT-EINSTEIN-Lecture-on-SPEED-OF-LIGHT-Time-1st-Visit-to-US-1921-Newspaper/373400655156

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Richard Feynman: "The result of the Michelson-Morley experiment was very puzzling and most disturbing. The first fruitful idea for finding a way out of the impasse came from Lorentz. He suggested that material bodies contract when they are moving, and that this foreshortening is only in the direction of the motion." https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_15.html

"Most disturbing" for etherists and Einstein. For Walther Ritz https://www.academia.edu/69646000/Ritz_Einstein_and_the_Emission_Hypothesis the null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment meant confirmation of Newton's variable speed of light:

https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-f10f1c25528a4e5edc9bae200640f31c-pjlq

Unfortunately, Ritz died in 1909 and it took Einstein ten years to convince the scientific community that the Michelson-Morley experiment had confirmed his 1905 constant-speed-of-light postulate:

In 1911 Jean Perrin explains that the Michelson-Morley experiment has confirmed the VARIABLE speed of light posited by Newton's emission theory; Paul Langevin agrees reluctantly:

Séance du 19 Octobre 1911, LE TEMPS, L'ESPACE ET LA CAUSALITÉ DANS LA PHYSIQUE MODERNE https://s3.archive-host.com/membres/up/784571560/GrandesConfPhiloSciences/philosc12_langevin_1911.pdf

M. PERRIN. - Il est remarquable qu'un retour à l'hypothèse de l'émission, en admettant que les particules lumineuses sont émises par chaque source avec une même vitesse par rapport à elle dans toutes les directions expliquerait, dans les conceptions de la Mécanique classique, le résultat négatif de l'expérience de Michelson et Morley quel que soit le mouvement d'ensemble du système. D'autre part les physiciens, en développant la théorie des ondulations au point de vue du principe de relativité, sont amenés à conclure que la lumière est inerte et probablement pesante. N'est-ce pas un retour vers l'ancienne théorie de l'émission ?

M. LANGEVIN. - Tout d'abord la théorie de l'émission sous sa forme ancienne compatible avec la mécanique s'est montrée impuissante à expliquer les phénomènes les plus simples de l'optique en particulier la réfraction et les interférences utilisées dans l'expérience même de Michelson et Morley. Elle a dû être abandonnée depuis l'expérience cruciale de Foucault sur la vitesse de la lumière dans les milieux réfringents. S'il est vrai que par un singulier retour le principe de relativité conduise à reconnaître à la lumière des propriétés analogues à l'inertie et même à la pesanteur, une théorie de l'émission qui représenterait ces faits devrait être singulièrement différente de la théorie ancienne et devrait, pour tenir compte de la nature commune des phénomènes optiques et électromagnétiques expliquer aussi ces derniers phénomènes; et comme ceux-ci paraissent exactement régis par les équations des Maxwell, la nouvelle théorie devrait correspondre à l'espace et au temps dont les transformations conservent leur forme à ces équations, c'est-à-dire à l'espace et au temps du groupe de Lorentz. Il est d'ailleurs bien difficile de discuter une théorie non encore formulée.

In 1922 Paul Langevin explains that the Michelson-Morley experiment has gloriously confirmed Einstein's CONSTANT speed of light; Jean Perrin wholeheartedly agrees:

Séance du 6 avril 1922, LA THÉORIE DE LA RELATIVITÉ https://s3.archive-host.com/membres/up/784571560/GrandesConfPhiloSciences/philosc13_einstein_1922.pdf

M. LANGEVIN. - La théorie de la Relativité restreinte repose sur deux axiomes fondamentaux : le principe de relativité et le principe de la constance de la vitesse de la lumière. Selon le premier principe, les équations traduisant les lois qui régissent les phénomènes doivent avoir la même forme pour tous les systèmes d'inertie en translation uniforme les uns par rapport aux autres ; ce principe fondé sur l'expérience s'est toujours trouvé confirmé dans tous les domaines de la physique. L'isotropie de la vitesse de la lumière, autrement dit la constance de c quand on passe d'un système galiléen à un autre, est une conséquence de ces lois de l'électromagnétisme que personne ne peut raisonnablement songer à contester, et se trouve directement vérifiée par des expériences du genre de celle de Michelson.

M. PERRIN. - Je m'associe entièrement aux vues de M. Langevin et pense que la théorie a la plus grosse importance dans tous les domaines de la physique.

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