Ralph Neas

Ralph G. Neas (born May 17, 1946 in Brookline, Massachusetts; and raised primarily in St. Charles, Illinois) is best known for directing a series of national campaigns that marshaled strong bipartisan majorities to strengthen and protect the nation's civil rights laws during the Reagan-Bush presidencies.[1][2] He is also known for chairing the national coalition that helped defeat the U.S. Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork.[3]

Senator Edward Kennedy, in 1995, in a Senate floor statement called Neas "the 101st Senator for Civil Rights." [4] That same week, Senator Carol Mosely-Braun (D-Il)--the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate[5]—called Neas "one of our Nation's foremost civil rights leaders."[6]

Neas has served as Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights;[7] the President and CEO of People For the American Way (PFAW) [8] and the PFAW Foundation; President and CEO of the National Coalition on Health Care;[9] and President and CEO of the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA).[10] He served for eight years as chief legislative assistant to Republican Senators Edward W. Brooke (Mass.) and David Durenberger (Minn.) and remained a Republican until October 1996.[11]

Personal Background

Early Years

The Neas family moved from New England to St.Charles, Illinois in 1955 where Neas' father, Ralph, Sr, began his career as a salesman for the American Brass Company; growing up in St. Charles, a town of approximately 12,000 people 40 miles west of Chicago, with one African American family, and attending Marmion Military Academy, a high school run by Benedictine monks and U.S. Army personnel, Neas had little direct contact with a rapidly changing political world.[12] Influencing Neas significantly in the years before he left for college and law school were his parents, the teachings of Vatican II, his love for baseball, the civil rights movement, and the lessons he learned at Marmion.[13]

Education

Neas graduated from Marmion Military Academy (Aurora Illinois) in 1964. He earned a B.A. with honors from the University of Notre Dame in 1968; and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1971.[14]

Guillain Barre Syndrome

In early 1979, Neas received last rites from a Roman Catholic priest after the onset of near-total paralysis which was caused by Guillain Barre Syndrome (also known as "French Polio.")[15] After nearly five months in the hospital, much of it on a respirator in the Intensive Care Unit, he recovered, and cofounded the Guillain Barre Syndrome Foundation,[16] whose primary focus in on families affected by this still-mysterious disease—which in 2016 was linked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Zika virus.[17]

Career

U.S. Senate

Neas was, active duty and reserve, in the US Army (1968-1976).[18] In late 1971, he joined the Congressional Research Service's American Law Division at the Library of Congress as a legislative attorney on civil rights. In January 1973, he was hired as a legislative assistant to Republican Senator Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts, eventually becoming the Senator's chief legislative assistant. He stayed with Senator Brooke until his defeat in 1978, at which time he accepted a job as chief legislative assistant to Senator David Durenberger of Minnesota—also a Republican.[19]

Neas' work in the U.S. Senate spanned eight years, during which he focused primarily on civil rights, including the 1975 extension and expansion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the protection of Title IX, reproduction rights, and Title VI and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Neas also worked on the Watergate scandal, health care, and ethics reform.[20] While with Senator Durenberger, in 1979-1980 he conceived and drafted the "Women's Economic Equity Act," parts of which were enacted during the Reagan and Bush Administrations.[21]

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

From 1981 through 1995, Neas served as Executive Director of the nonpartisan Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the legislative arm of the civil rights movement.[22] Neas coordinated successful national campaigns that led to the Civil Rights Act of 1991;[23] the Americans with Disabilities Act;[24] the Civil Rights Restoration Act[25];, the Fair Housing Act Amendments of 1988;[26] the Japanese American Civil Liberties Act;[27] the preservation of the Executive Order on Affirmative Action (1985-1986 and 1995-1996);[28] and the 1982 Voting Right Act Extension.[29] Final passage on all these laws averaged 85% in both the House of Representatives and the Senate; in addition, another 15 Leadership Conference on Civil Rights legislative priorities were enacted into law in the 1981-1995 period.[30]

Neas pointed out during July 11, 1996 testimony before the House Democratic Caucus, Committee on Organization Study and Review regarding Bipartisan Cooperation in Congress,"the average final passage vote on these laws was 85%" in both the House and Senate--"a landmark [to] bipartisan coalition building."

Senator Edward Kennedy, in a 1995 Senate floor statement, described Neas as the "101st Senator for Civil Rights. Neas was, award-winning historian Gary May points of in Bending Toward Justice: The Voting Rights Act and the Transformation of American Democracy (2013), the LCCR's "first full-time Executive Director." [31]

William T. Taylor, former General Counsel and Staff Director of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, and then an LCCR executive committee member, notes in his memoirs, The Passion of My Times: An Advocate's Fifty-Year Journey in the Civil Rights Movement (2004), that Neas "seemed an unlikely choice [because] he was a white male Catholic Republican who had gone to Notre Dame, where he devoted himself to becoming an officer in the ROTC."[32]

He was chair of the Block Bork Coalition in 1987.[33] " Ralph Neas assembled and led an extraordinary nationwide coalition which successfully opposed the nomination because of Judge Bork's hostility to protecting the constitutional rights and liberties of all Americans," Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) later told the U.S. Senate.[34]

Political career

In 1998, Neas ran against incumbent Republican Representative Connie Morella in Maryland's 8th Congressional District (composed primarily of the suburbs northwest of Washington D.C.). Morella defeated Neas 60% to 40%.[35]

People For the American Way

In late 1999, Neas was named the President and CEO of People For the American Way and People For the American Way Foundation.[36] For eight years, Neas helped lead national efforts to preserve an independent and fair judiciary;[37] to protect civil rights and civil liberties;[38] and to defend and reform our public schools.[39]

In addition, Neas helped put together civic engagement partnerships to recruit and manage 25,000 volunteers in 2004 for the non-partisan and nationally recognized Election Protection program[40] (to help ensure every vote counts), to direct non-partisan programs that registered 525,000 African and Latino voters in three years, and to establish youth leadership development programs across the country (Young People For and Young Elected Officials).[41]

National Coalition on Health Care

In late 2007, Neas became active in the resurgent health care reform movement, becoming senior advisor to the president of the National Coalition on Health Care (NCHC), a non-partisan coalition of more than 80 national organizations (representing consumer groups, medical societies, civil rights groups, small and large businesses, civil right groups, pension funds, disability senior citizens unions and senior citizen and good government organizations) [42] In February 2009, Neas became the CEO of NCHC to help lead the final push for the Affordable Care Act, focusing on system-wide reform, quality health care, cost containment, and the need for bipartisanship.[43] Neas also worked closely with the generic pharmaceutical industry to convey the importance of promoting generics as a critical cost saving and pro-consumer strategy to ensure a sustainable health care system.[44]

Generic Pharmaceutical Association

On September 12, 2011, Neas became President and CEO of the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) which represents the manufacturers and distributors of finished generic pharmaceuticals [45] As stated by GPhA's Board Chairman in 2013, GPhA's mission is "to be on the forefront of increasing access to affordable medicines for all consumers".[46] Neas and GPhA played a leadership role in protecting the Hatch-Waxman Act;[47] enacting the Generic Drug User Fees Act;[48] promoting and defending biosimilars at the national and state levels;[49] and making sure that international trade agreements did not favor manufacturers of brand medicines and biologics;[50]

During Neas' tenure, GPhA also launched the Biosimilars Council.[51]

Congressional/Executive Branch Testimony
  • House Judiciary Committee Hearings, May 6, 1981, Extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act
  • Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings, June 1985, opposing the confirmation of William Bradford Reynolds to be associate Attorney General
  • Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings, September, 1987, opposing the Supreme Court Nomination of Robert Bork
  • Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings, September, 1991, opposing the Supreme Court Nomination of Clarence Thomas
  • House Democratic Caucus Committee on Organization, Study and Review, July 11, 1996, "Bipartisan Cooperation in Congress"
  • Senate Government Affairs Committee, May 1, 2001, Hearing on Election Reform
  • House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, October 10, 2002, "Judicial Nominations"
  • Congressional Hearing on US Elections, December 8, 2004
  • House Judiciary Committee, March 7, 2007, "Protecting the Right to Vote: Election Deception and Irregularities in Recent Federal Elections"
  • House Education and Commerce Committee, June 23, 2009, Hearing on The Affordable Care Act
  • FDA Hearings on Drug Shortages, September 26, 2011
  • Senate HELP Committee, December 15, 2012, Hearing on Drug Shortages
  • House Energy and Commerce Committee, April 1, 2014, Hearing on Proposed FDA Labeling Changes

Teaching

Neas has taught law school and undergraduate courses on the legislative process; the Constitution; public policy; and the media. These courses have been offered at, among other places:

Author

Neas is a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post. Several weeks before the 2016 presidential election, for example, he warned in "The Supreme Court Really Matters" [54] that "If Donald Trump becomes president and names justices in the mold of Clarence Thomas, as he has said he would, a solid right-wing majority on the Court would turn back the constitutional clock nearly 80 years, overturning dozens of well-established Supreme Court decisions protecting fundamental constitutional rights and liberties and upholding the constitutionality of landmark laws based on the Court's interpretation of the Constitution's Commerce Clause. And conversely, several recent Court decisions that allow unlimited money into the electoral process, limit gun safety, and undermine the Voting Rights Act, could be enshrined for decades." [55]

Neas' published works include more than fifty articles, op-eds, and commentaries in national and regional media outlets; among them are:

  • Des Moines Register, March 25, 1982, "Challenging the Reagan Department of Justice on the Voting Rights Act"
  • USA Today, June 2, 1986, "Affirmative Action Is Working Well"
  • Gannet Newspapers, December 8, 1985, "Supporting the Executive Order on Civil Rights"
  • Scripts Howard News Service, April 27, 1987, "We Need the Civil Rights Restoration Act"
  • San Diego Union -Tribune, April 2, 1988, "Congress Acts to Prohibit the Federal Funding of Discrimination"
  • Children's Defense Fund Reports, December, 1988, "We Will Continue to Move Forward"
  • USA Today Magazine, March, 1990, "The Civil Rights Legacy of the Reagan Years"
  • The Washington Post, October 28, 1991, "We Didn't Get or Leak the Affidavit"
  • Roll Call, April 28, 1994, "Edwards and Fish: Two Guardians of the Constitution"
  • Montgomery Gazette, February 27, 1998, "Why I will Win in November"
  • Sarasota (Fla) Herald Tribune, January 23, 2000, "The Good Book-Taught Wrong"
  • L.A.Times, November, 2000, "Rules of the Game"
  • The Nation Magazine, 2000, "Putting a Radical Right Team on the Bench"
  • USA Today, February 19, 2002, "Church-Run Schools Wrongly Gain From Vouchers"
  • L.A. Times, February 20, 2002, "Vouchers Hinder School Reform"
  • Roll Call, May 9, 2002, "United States Needs More Discussion of Judicial Philosophy"
  • Houston Chronicle, June 28, 2002, "Public Has Already Voted Against Vouchers"
  • Mobile Register, Alabama, May 11, 2003, "Harmful States Rights Advocate"
  • USA Today, September 25, 2003, "Abandon Risky Experiment"
  • Huffington Post, May 26, 2005, "Dealing Defeat to the Far Right"
  • USA Today, September 22, 2005, "Roberts a Dangerous Bet"
  • USA Today, October 27, 2005, "Don't Subsidize Religion"
  • Huffington Post, December 1, 2006, "Still Trying to Clean Up the Mess in Florida"
  • Huffington Post, March 27, 2007, "Time For Congress to Move on the Holt Bill"
  • Huffington Post, April 16, 2007, "Bigotry, Freedom, and Responsibility"
  • C.J. Online [Topeka Citizen Journal], September 7, 2007, "New Voting Machine Can Save Our Democracy"
  • "Reflections on The Autobiography of Senator Edward W. Brooke" (2007); Neas private papers.
  • The New York Times, February 29, 2009, "Liberal groups Are Flexing New Muscles in Lobby Wars"
  • Roll Call, June 8, 2009, with Dr. Henry Simmons, "National Plan Must Be Product of Capitol Hill Bipartisanship"
  • Miami Herald, 2009, Health Care Reform
  • Roll Call, December 7, 2009, with Dr. Henry Simmons, "Congress, Tackle Systemwide Cost in Health Reform"
  • USA Today, November 10, 2009, With Janet Marguia, National Council Of La Raza, "Don't Deny Health Care to Children of Parents in US Illegally"
  • Politico, May 27, 2011, "America's Internal Bleeding"
  • ABA Administrative and Regulatory Law News, Spring 2011, "The Essential Role of Lobbyists in Effective Governance and Some Rules to Live By"
  • USA Today, October 19, 2011, "Drug Shortages: Solution Requires Collaboration"
  • San Jose Mercury News, October 4, 2013, "Biosimilars: Jerry Brown Should Veto bill that protects big biotech profits"
  • The Hill, "The FDA and Generic Drug Labeling Changes"
  • U.S. New and World Report, March 31, 2014, "The FDA Should be in Charge of Warning Labels"
  • The Hill, January 28, 2015, "Trans Pacific Partnership: Ambitious Enough"
  • Huffington Post, July 29, 2015, With Nancy Leamond, AARP, "TPP Threatens Access to Affordable Medicine for People Around the World"
  • Washington Post, January 11, 2016, Battle with Guillain Barre Syndrome

Selected Neas Articles/Presentations in Law Reviews, Public Policy Journals, and Public Forums
  • U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, The Civil Rights Quarterly, Summer, 1983, "Saluting the 25th Birthday of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
  • U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops, October 24, 1983, University of Notre Dame, "Politics as a Vocation"
  • Children's Defense Fund Report, December, 1988, "We Will Continue to Move Forward"
  • Yale Law and Policy Review Interview, November 2, 1990, "The Reagan Record on Civil Rights"
  • Seton Hall Legislative Journal, Volume 15, Number 3, 1991, "Symposium on the 1990 Civil Rights Act"
  • Special Otis Bowen Annual Lecture, "Comprehensive Health Care Reform, the University of Notre Dame, March 26, 2009
  • Regents Journal of Law and Public Policy, 2010, with Dr. Henry Simmons, "Comprehensive Health Care Reform: An Urgent Need Meets an Opportunity"
  • ABA Administrative and Regulatory Law News, Spring, 2011, "The Essential Role of Lobbyists in Effective Governance"
  • Journal of Generic Medicines, Summer, 2012, "A Global Future for Biosimilars"
  • Journal of Generic Medicines, Summer of 2014, with David Gaugh, "What's in a Name? The Identification of Biologic Products"
  • University of Notre Dame Law School, September 29, 2015, "The Voting Rights Act: Past and Present"

Media appearances

Neas has been frequently interviewed in the print and electronic media, including CBS's Face the Nation, ABC's Nightline, CBS's Sunday Morning, NBC's Today Show, ABC's This Week, PBS News Hour, the nIghtly news shows of ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and Fox; National Public Radio; and national, regional, and local newspapers.[62]

Between 1979 and 2016, both the New York Times[63] and the Washington Post[64] cited Neas several hundred times. The Wall Street editorial pages have discussed Neas -critically- in more than 45 editorials and op-eds.[65]

Neas has made more than 50 appearances on C-Span.[66] In 2009, along with Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Ver) and Arlen Specter (R and then D-Pa), and conservative activist Manny Miranda[67] Neas was the subject of a film documentary entitled Advise and Dissent;[68] In 2014-2016, Neas was featured in a play by Anthony Giardina, "City of Conversation", at the Lincoln Center in New York, the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C, and in theaters in other parts of the United States.[69]

Awards
  • Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award from LCCR;[70]
  • Benjamin Hooks "Keeper of the Flame" award from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the 91st Annual Convention, Baltimore, Maryland, July 10, 2000;[71]
  • Public Service Achievement Award from Common Cause[72]
  • Edward M. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award from the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund—November 10, 1994;
  • National Good Guy Award" from the National Women's Political Caucus;[73]
  • "Isaiah Award for the Pursuit of Justice" from the American Jewish Committee, Washington D.C. Chapter, October 5, 1994;
  • "Flag Bearer Award" from PFLAG (formerly known as Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), 1995;[74]
  • Edison Uno Memorial Civil Rights Award from the Japanese American Citizens League; 31st JACL Biennial Convention, San Diego, California, 1990;
  • University of Chicago Alumni Public Service Citation;[75]
  • "Citizen of the Year" award from the Guillian-Barre Syndrome Foundation International;[76]
  • The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law for efforts to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1991, January 15, 1992;
  • "The Americans with Disabilities Act Award" from the Task Force on the Rights of the Empowerment of Americans with Disabilities for "historic leadership regarding the enactment of the world's first comprehensive civil rights law for people with disabilities" October 12, 1990;
  • Marmion Military Academy's "Centurion" Alumni Achievement Award, March 13, 1991, North Aurora, Illinois;
  • Civil Rights Leadership Award from the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism at the Embassy of Israel, January, 1988;
  • Rosa Parks Award" by the American Association for Affirmative Action, April, 1996, AAAA 22nd Annual Conference, Philadelphia, Pa.;
  • The National Bicentennial Medal received from American Bicentennial Administration Administrator John Warner (future United States Senator), 1976. Neas was chief legislative assistant to ABA Board Co-Chairman Senator Edward W. Brooke and Senate liaison to the American Bicentennial Administration);
  • "President's Award for Outstanding Service", Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, September, 2007.
  • Received the "Eagle Fly Free Award" from the Institute for the Advancement of Multicultural and Minority Medicine (along with Senator Arlen Specter, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and former world boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard), September 29, 2009, Institute's Awards Benefit Gala, Washington, D.C.
  • Received the "Star for Children" Award from the Children's Charities Foundation, Washington, D.C., December, 2015

Neas was named in 2004 one of Vanity Fair magazine's "Best Stewards of the Environment." In May 2008, the national Legal Times designated Neas one of the 30 "Champions of the Law" over the past three decades.

In addition, Neas was named one of the nation's most influential advocates by the National Journal ("150 Americans Who Make a Difference", June, 1986), Regardie's Magazine (1990), and US News and World Report (" The New American Establishment", February 8, 1988). On October 9, 1987, Neas was named ABC World New's "Person of the Week" for his leadership role opposing the Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination [77]

Key profiles and interviews

Washington Star, October, 1979, "The Most Durable Smile on Capitol Hill"

Washington Post, October 7, 1979, Rudy Maxa, "Neas Fought Back From Paralysis"

Washington Post, February 3, 1980, Rudy Maxa, "Ralph Neas: Victim to Activist"

New Republic, September 6, 1982, Bart Gellman, "The New Old Movement"

Glamour Magazine, 1982, Sarah Weddington, "Good Guys in Washington"

Congressional Quarterly, September 17, 1983, Nadine Cohotas, "Group Reflects Diverse Rights Community"

The Hill Rag, April 1983, Keith Fagon, "Ralph Neas", Inserted in the Congressional Record by Senator Edward Kennedy, S5197, April 26, 1983

Ms. Gazette, Lavinia Edmunds, October, 1984, "Welding a Civil Rights Coalition"

National Women's Political Caucus, Women's Political Times, October, 1984, "Why the Defeat?"

Wall Street Journal, November, 1985, JoAnn Lublin, "Veteran Political Operator Arranges Campaign to Save Anti'Bias Rules for Federal Contractors"

Gannett Newspapers, December 8, 1985, "Supporting the Executive Order on Affirmative Action; Opposing Ed Meese's Efforts to Gut the Executive Order""

US News and World Report, February 8, 1988, "The Next American Establishment"

National Journal, June, 1986, "150 Who Make a Difference"

New York Times, August 16, 1987, Lena Williams, "An Administrator of Many Hats and Colors"

Washington Post, September 15, 1987. Lois Romano, "Leading the Charge on Bork"

ABC World News Tonight, "ABC Person of the Week Regarding Bork Supreme Court Nomination"

American Visions Magazine, 1987, Edward C. Maddox, "Visit with Ralph Neas"

The New York Times, June 27, 1988, Steven R. Roberts, "To Write a Fair Housing Bill" (Profile on Neas, Congressman Hamilton Fish, Wade Henderson, and Althea Simmons)

USA Today, October, 1990, Leslie Philips, "Even Critics Say Ralph Neas Is Effective"

Regardie's Magazine, 1990, "The Power Elite"

Yale Law and Policy Review Interview, November 2, 1990, "The Reagan Record on Civil Rights"

Wall Street Journal, April, 1991, Paul Gigot, "Sleeping with the Enemy"

New York Times, December 2, 1991, Steven Holmes, "Lobbyist on Civil Rights Wins Despite Hostility"

Legal Times, December 28, 1992, "A Legal Revolution that Fizzed: Reagan and Bush Left Much of Their Conservative Agenda Unfulfilled"

The Washington Blade, 1994, Sidney Brinkley, "The 'Art' of Building Civil Rights Coalitions"

Congressional Record, May 3, 1995, Senator Edward Kennedy, "Ralph Neas - the 101st Senator for Civil Rights"

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights 45 Anniversary Journal, May 3, 1995, Dorothy Height Article on "The Neas Years at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights". Published in the Congressional Record by Congressman Steny Hoyer, Congressman Kweisi Mfume, and Senator Carol Moseley Braun

Legal Times, June 19, 1995, Sam Skolnik, "Actavists Gird for Battle After Adarand: Ralph Neas' Last Stand?"

National Journal, February 19, 2000, Shawn Zeller, "Ready to Rumble with the Right"

Montgomery Gazette, Josh Kurtz, "Ralph!"

New York Times, February 2000, "Neas Starts at People For the American Way"

Washington Post, March 11, 2001, Thomas Edsall, "Interest Groups Are Suiting Up for Tax Cut Battle"

Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2004, Bob Davis and Robert Greenberger, "Two Old Foes Plot Tactics in Battles Over Judgeships"

CBS "Face the Nation", July 3, 2005, Regarding the Resignation of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

New York Times, July 3, 2005, David E. Rosenbaum and Lynette Clemetson, "In Battle to Confirm a New Justice, Both Sides Get Troops Ready Again"

The New Republic, Michael Crowley, " A Liberal Spoils for a Fight"

Washington Post, February 2, 2006, Lois Romano and Juliet Eiperin, "The Alito Confirmation Battle"

Legal Times 30th Anniversary Issue, May 19, 2008, "The 90 Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Last 30 Years"

New York Times, February, 2009, Jim Rutenberg, Liberals and the Affordable Care Act

CBS Sunday Morning Interview, June, 2009, Status of the Affordable Care Act

CBS Sunday Morning, March 23, 2010, "Passage of the Affordable Care Act"

National Journal, September 21, 2011, Mike Magner, "Back at the Front"

CEO Update, 2012, Mark Tarrallo, "A Civil Rights Icon Finds a New Arena; The Drug Industry"

Chain Pharmacy, Drug Store News, November 17, 2014, "Hatch-Waxman Act's Long-Lasting Impact"

CQ Weekly, December 1, 2014, Shawn Zeller, "Generic-Makers Hope For Deal on Drug-Label Rule"

Biopharma Dive, February 5, 2015, Nicole Gray, "Passing the Torch: Ralph Neas' Tenure at GPhA"

Biopharma Dive, April 8, 2015, Nicole Gray, "Ralph Neas"

Books that Include Profiles of Neas

These books include:

Ethan Bronner, Battle for Justice; How the Bork Nomination Shook America, 1989

Michael Pertschuk, Giant Killers, 1986, [has a chapter on 1981-1982 battle to renew and extend the Voting Rights Act of 1965]

Michael Pertschuk and Wendy Schaetzel, People Rising; The Campaign Against the Bork Nomination, 1989

Lennard Davis, Enabling Acts: The Hidden Story of How the Americans with Disabilities Act Gave the Largest US Minority Its Rights, 2015

Ari Berman, Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America, 2015

Ronald Brownstein, Second Civil War, [Chapter uses Neas and Senator Trent Lott (R-Miss) to exemplify how individuals have changed partisan loyalties as the Republican and Democratic parties change], 2009

Jonathan Young, 'Equality of Opportunity: The Making of the Americans with Disabilities Act, (published by the National Council on Disability), 1997

Mark Gitenstein, Matters of Principle": An Insider's Account of America's Rejection of Robert Bork's Nomination to the Supreme Court, 1992

Beacham's Guide to Key Lobbyists, 1989

William L. Taylor, The Passion of My Time, 2004

Testimonials about Ralph Neas published in the Congressional Record
  • Senator David Durenberger, May 17, 1979, S11712, "Ralph Neas' Battle with Guillain Barre Syndrome and His 33rd Birthday"
  • Senator Edward Kennedy, September 20, 1982, S24198, Statement regarding the enactment of the Voting Rights Act Extension of 1982. Placed in the Congressional Record an article by Barton Gellman in The New Republic, September 6, 1982, "The New Old Movement"
  • Senator Edward Kennedy, April 26, 1983, S9702-S9706, "Ralph Neas", article by Keith Fagon, published in the Hill Rag, April, 1983, inserted in the Congressional Record
  • Senator Edward Kennedy, July 1, 1987, S1859, Placed in the Congressional Record the statement of Benjamin L. Hooks and Ralph G. Neas regarding the Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork
  • Senator Edward Kennedy, May 2, 1995, S5996, "Ralph Neas: The 101st Senator for Civil Rights"[78]
  • Congressman Steyn Hoyer, May 3, 1995, "Tribute to Ralph Neas and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights" [79]
  • Senator Bill Bradley, May 3, 1995, S6032, "Honoring Ralph Neas"
  • May 2, 1995, Article by Dorothy Height in the LCCR 45th Anniversary Journal, "The Neas Years at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights", Inserted in the Congressional Record by, among others, Representative Kweisi Mfume (D-Md), Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, E930, May 2, 1995[80]
  • Senator Carol Mosely Braun, May 3, 1995, S6028, "The Neas Years"[81]
  • Congressman Ben Cardin, August 1, 1996, "Remarks of Ralph G. Neas at the Memorial Service of Congressman Hamilton Fish, Jr."
  • Congressman Benjamin A. Gilman, July 30, 1997, E 1488, "Ralph Neas Remarks about Congressman Hamilton Fish"
  • Senator Edward Kennedy, May 5, 2009, S5122, "Ralph Neas on Health Care", The Special Otis Bowen Lecture on Comprehensive Health Care Reform, at the University of Notre Dame, March 26, 2009

Oral History Interviews

The following research libraries have in their collections interviews with Ralph Neas:

  • Senator Edward W. Brooke
  • Senator Edward Kennedy: at the Miller Center for Politics, University of Virginia; interview is not yet released[82]
  • Senator David Durenberger
  • Senator Howell Heflin
  • 1981-82 battle to extend the Voting Rights Act of 1965: Library of Congress; interviews of Neas by Gary Orfield in the Michael Pertchuck Papers[83]

Family

Neas married Katherine Beh in 1988, and their daughter Maria was born in 1999.

References
  1. Dorothy Height, "The Neas Years at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights", 45th Anniversary Journal, May 3, 1995, inserted in the Congressional Record by, among others, Congressman Kweisi Mfume, former Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, E930, May 2, 1995; Special Otis Bowen Lecture on Comprehensive Health Care, Ralph Neas, March 26, 2009, the University of Notre Dame, inserted in the Congressional Record by Senator Edward Kennedy, May 5, 2009, S5122
  2. Senator Edward Kennedy, Congressional Record, S5996, May 2, 1995, "Ralph Neas: the 101st Senator for Civil Rights;" Congressman Steny Hoyer, Congressional Record, E947, May 3, 1995, "Tribute to Ralph Neas and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights;" Senator Carol Mosely Braun, Congressional Record, S6028, May 3, 1995, "The Neas Years;" and Senator Bill Bradley, S6032, May 3, 1995, "Honoring Ralph Neas."
  3. Mark Gitenstein, "Matters of Principle: An Insider's Account of America's Rejection of the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court", 1992; Ethan Bronner, "Battle For Justice": How the Bork Nomination Shook America", 1989; Michael Pertchuk, "The People Rising: The Campaign Against the Bork Nomination", 1989; Senator Edward Kennedy, Ibid
  4. Congressional Record, May 2, 1995, Senator Edward Kennedy, "Ralph Neas - the 101st Senator for Civil Rights
  5. https://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/biography/biographies/carol-moseley-braun/
  6. "Congressional Record Senate Articles". www.congress.gov. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  7. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/1995/05/02/senate-section/article/S5996-4. Retrieved December 6, 2016
  8. "Statement of Ralph G. Neas President, People For the American Way on Judicial Nominations". People For the American Way. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  9. "Search for "ralph neas"". NCHC. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  10. New York Times. "Longtime Liberal Advocate to Lead Generic Drug Group". Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  11. Ronald Brownstein, The Second Civil War, 2007
  12. The Hill Rag Newspaper, April, 1983, article by Keith Fagon, "Ralph Neas", inserted in the Congressional Record by Senator Edward Kennedy, S9702-S9706, April 26, 1983.
  13. Neas Lecture at the University of Notre Dame,"Professional Life: Vocation and Commitment", October 24, 1983, at a conference convened by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop's Committee on the Laity Secretariat, "Work and Faith in Society: Catholic Perspectives": Presentations from a Laity Consultation (Office of Public Services, U.S. Catholic Conference, 1984-Church and the World-40 pages); LCCR 45th Anniversary Dinner honoring Neas, March 3, 1995, biographical article in the dinner journal
  14. http://www.gphaonline.org/media/wysiwyg/PDF/Bios/RGN_Bio_Website_2013.pdf
  15. Washington Post, January 11, 2016, "Battle with Guillain Barre Syndrome;" GBS Foundation 35th Anniversary video, https://www.youtube.com/watchPv=uL9EffDyiAc
  16. "Estelle Benson, Founder, Wins PSI's President's Award". GBS/CIDP Foundation International. May 5, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  17. "Zika and Guillain-Barre Syndrome". CDC. November 5, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  18. NNDB. "Ralph Neas". Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  19. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/1995/5/3/senate-section/article/S6028-1 Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  20. Neas, "Reflections on the Autobiography of Edward W. Brook."
  21. For descriptions of Neas' role in the Economic Equity Act, see: * * --Savvy Magazine, February, 1983, Lavinia Edmunds and Judith Patterson, "A Hard Act to Follow: A Coalition Uses ERA Lessons to Fight for Passage of the Complex Economic Equity Act" - Senator David Durenberger email to Ralph Neas, 2016 - Washington Post, March 16, 1983, Judy Mann, "Equal Benefits" - Glamour Magazine, August 1982, Sarah Weddington, "Good Guys in Washington" - Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, 2007, Patricia Seith, "Congressional Power to Effect Sex Equity". P 17, Footnote 67.
  22. Dorothy Height, "The Neas years at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights," LCCR 45th Anniversary Journal, May 3, 1995.
  23. New York Times, December 2, 1991, Steven Holmes, "Lobbyist on Civil Rights Wins Despite Hostility", https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/02/us/washington-at-work-lobbyist-on-civil-rights-wins-despite-hostility.html ; USA Today, October, 1990, Leslie Phillips, "Even Critics Say Ralph Neas is Effective"
  24. Lennard Davis, Enabling Acts: The Hidden Story of How the Americans with Disability Act Gave the Largest US Minority Its Rights; "The Making of the ADA", Disability Rights Defense and Education Fund, Parts One and Three, Summer, 2015; New York Times, August 8, 1989, Nathaniel Nash, "Bush and Senate Leaders Support Sweeping Protections for Disabled"
  25. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/17/us/reagan-vetoes-bill-that-would-widen-federal-rights-law-.html; National Women's Political Caucus, Women's Political Times, October, 1984, "Why the Defeat?"; Ms. Gazette, Lavinia Edmunds, October, 1984, Welding a Civil Rights Coalition"; New York Times, January 6, 1985, "Reagan Backs Bid to Reverse Effects of Ruling in Bias Case", https://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/06/us/reagan-backs-bill-to-reverse-effects-of-ruling-in-bias-case.html; https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/17/us/reagan-vetoes-bill-that-would-widen-federal-rights-law.html
  26. New York Times, June 7, 1988, Steven R. Roberts, "To Write a Fair Housing Bill"; https://www.c-span.org/video/?4287-1/fair-housing-amendments-1988
  27. Japanese American Citizens League honors Neas for "outstanding Support to Redress for Americans of Japanese ancestry". August 7, 1988; www.protectcivilrights.org/pdf/voting-record/lccr-voting-record-100th-congress.pdf
  28. The Wall Street Journal, November, 1985, JoAnn Lublin, "Veteran Political Operator Arranges Campaign to Save Anti-Bias Rules for Federal Contractors"; New York Times, August 17, 1987, Lena Williams, "Administrator of Many Hats"
  29. . Michael Pertshuck, Giant Killers, 1986 (chapter on the 1981-1982 battle to renew and strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965; Congressional Quarterly, September 17, 1983, Nadine Cohotas, "Group Reflects Diverse Rights Community"; New Republic, September 6, 1982, Bart Gellman, "The New Old Movement"
  30. Civil Rights Monitor, Leadership Conference Education Fund, www.civilrights.org/monitor/vol8_no1/art/10.html; Dorothy Height article, May 3, 1995, 45th Annual LCCR Dinner Journal article, "The Neas Years". Additional LCCR legislative priorities enacted into law between 1981 and 1995 included the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Motor Voter Act (The National Voter Registration Act of 1993), the Voting Accessibility for Disabled and Senior Citizens Act, the Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Act, The Voting Rights Language Assistance Act of 1992, key provisions of the Economic Equity Act, the Hate Crimes Statistics Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Claims Assistance Act, the 1989 Minimum Wage Increase, three disability laws which overturned Supreme Court decisions and reinstated the coverage of anti-discrimination provisions to all airlines, the right to sue states for violations of Section 504, and the right of parents to recover attorney fees under the Education for Handicapped Children's Act (now called IDEA), the Gender Equity in Education Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1994 (including Chapter One reform), and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
  31. p. 215.
  32. P. 133.
  33. See Ethan Bronner, Battle for Justice: How the Bork Nomination Shook America, and People Rising. Washington Post, Lois Romano, September 15, 1987, "Leading the Charge on Bork"; New York Times, Lena Williams, August 16, 1987, "Administrator of Many Hats", https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/17/us/washington-talk-leadership-conference-civil-rights-administrator-many-hats.html. Neas also played a leadership role in the unsuccessful effort to defeat the Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas, https://www.c-span.org/video/?20201-1/opposition-judge-thomas-nomination; https://www.c-span.org/video/?22064-//thomas-confirmation; https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/08/us/another-rights-group-says-no-to-thomas.html
  34. https://www.congress.gov/crec/1995/05/02/CREC-1995-05-02-pt1-PgS5996-4.pdf Accessed December 8, 2016.
  35. D.C. Political Report, http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/members/1998/MD98.htm Accessed July 13, 2017
  36. National Journal, February 19, 2000, Shawn Zeller, "Ready to Rumble with the Right"
  37. Wall Street Journal, Bob Davis and Robert Greenberger, "Two Old Foes Plot Tactics in Battles Over Judgeships"; CBS "Face the Nation", July 3, 2005, the Resignation of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor"; New York Times, July 3, 2005, David E.Rosenbaum and Lynette Clemetson, "In Fight to Confirm New Justice, Two Field Generals Rally Their Troops Again", https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/03/politicsspecial1/in-battle-to-confirm-a-new-justice-both-sides-get.html ; Washington Post, February 2, 2006, Lois Romano and Juliet Eiperin, "The Alito Confirmation Battle". https://.c-span.org/video/?188560-1/roberts-supreme-court-nomination; https://www.c-span.org/video/?190538-3/supreme-court-watch; https://www.c-span.org/video/?191766-2/john-roberts-supreme-court-nomination; https://www.c-span.org/video/?186098-1/filbuster-ad-campaign=\,l;
  38. Senate Government Affairs Committee, May 1, 2001, Testimony on Election Reform; congressional hearing on US Elections, December 8, 2004, "Voting Irregularities in Ohio"; House Judiciary Committee, March 7, 2007, "Protecting the Right to Vote: Election Deception and Irregularities in Recent Federal Elections"; Ralph Neas and Julian Bond, People For the American Way Foundation-NAACP Report: "The Long Shadow of Jim Crow"
  39. People For the American Way Press Release: "Neas Announces Decision to Step Down as 'People For' President; Longtime Leader Will Continue as President Emeritus as Search for Successor Begins", August 17, 2007; https://www.c-span.org/video/?166829-1/educationstrategies
  40. Ibid; Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, "Election Protection Makes Debut", https://www.civilrights.org/voting-rights/election-reform/election-protection-project-makes-debut.htm?referred=https://www.google.com/ ; https://www.c-span.org/video/?183231-1/voter-intimidation-supression
  41. People for the American Way Press Release, August 17, 2007, ibid
  42. NCHC 2008-2009 Annual Report
  43. New York Times, February, 2009, Jim Rutenberg, "Liberal Groups Are Flexing New Muscles in Lobby Wars"; Special Otis Bowen Lecture, March 26, 2009, University of Notre Dame, inserted in the Congressional Record by Senator Edward Kennedy, May 5, 2009, ; Roll Call, June 8, 2009, with Dr. Henry Simmons, "National Plan Must be Product of Capitol Bipartisanship" ; Roll Call, December 7, 2009, with Dr. Henry Simmons, "Congress, Tackle Systemwide Cost in Health Reform"; CBS Sunday Morning, March 23, 2010, "Passage of the Affordable Care Act"; Politico, May 27, 2011, "America's Internal Bleeding"
  44. NCHC Letter to Senator Edward Kennedy and Senator Mike Enzi, opposing 12 year exclusivity for biologics, July 8, 2009.
  45. New York Times, September 6, 2011, Reed Abelson, "Neas to Lead GPhA"; National Journal, September 11, 2011, Mike Magner, "Back at the Front"
  46. GPhA 2013 Annual Report
  47. Biopharma Dive, February 5, 2015, Nicole Gray, "Passing the Torch: Ralph Neas' Tenure at GPhA"; GPhA 2012 Annual Report
  48. Journal of Generic Medicines, Summer, 2012, "A Global Future for Biosimilars"; San Jose Mercury News, Neas op-ed
  49. October 4, 2013, "Biosimilars: Jerry Brown Should Veto Bill that Protects Big Biotech Profits" ; New York Times, Andrew Pollack, October 13, 2013, "Governor Brown of Cal. Vetoes Biotech Drug Bill"
  50. The Hill, January 28, 2015, "Trans Pacific Partnership: Ambitious Enough?"; Huffington Post, July 29, 2015, Neas op-ed with Nancy Leamond, AARP, "TPP Threatens Access to Affordable Medicine for People Around the World"; Statement of Ralph G. Neas, opposing pharmaceutical exclusivity provisions of the TPP, press conference with Doctors Without Borders, AARP, AFL-CIO, and Oxfam, December 17, 2015; 2015 GPhA Annual Report
  51. GPhA 2015 Annual Report
  52. The Law School Record, Volume 40, page 33, Fall, 1994 chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi?
  53. IOP.harvard.edu/fellows/ralph-neas
  54. Neas, Ralph; Civil, ContributorFormer Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on; Rights, Human (October 17, 2016). "The Supreme Court Really Matters". HuffPost. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  55. Huffington Post, October 17, 2016
  56. Introduced into the Congressional Record https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-1997-07-23/html/CREC-1997-07-23-pt1-PgE1487-3.htm Accessed November 30, 2016.
  57. Justin Dart, Memorial Service, New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, July 26, 2002, Ralph Neas and Marca Bristo, co-moderators, https://www.c-span.org/video/?171512-1/justin-dart-jr-memorial-service
  58. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2010/07/13-extensions-of-remarks/article/E1291-1
  59. wtop.com, August 22, 2015, Julian Bond memorial service at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Statue, Tidal Basin, Washington, D.C., August, 2015
  60. Edward W. Brooke, Library of Congress Symposium on Senator Edward W. Brooke, October 21, 2015, Ralph Neas, Senator Ed Markey,Congressman John Conyers, and Senator Tim Scott, "Legacy of Senator Edward W. Brooke; "Reflections on the Autobiography of Senator Edward W. Brooke", Private Papers of Ralph G. Neas
  61. Joseph Rauh, UDC Law School Law Review Tribute to Joseph Rauh, https://www.udclawreview.com/w.p.-content/uploads/2011/11/udc-dcls-l-rev-volume-2-spring-1993-number-1.pdf
  62. "Gphaonline.org". www.gphaonline.org. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
  63. New York Times Index, https://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/nytarchive.html
  64. Washington Post Index
  65. Wall Street Journal Index
  66. C-Span Archives: https://www.c-span.org/person/?/ralphneas
  67. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Manny_Miranda Accessed December 10, 2016.
  68. http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/advise_and_dissent Accessed December 10, 2016.
  69. Anthony Giardina, "The City of Conversation", Samuel French Acting Edition, 2014
  70. http://www.civilrights.org/dinner/1995/
  71. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=12006 Accessed December 12, 2016
  72. https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-17162387/1995-common-cause-public-service-achievement-awards Accessed December 12, 2016
  73. https://www.c-span.org/video/?125743-1/good-guys-awards-dinner Accessed December 13, 2016
  74. Leadership Conference 45th Anniversary Journal; Neas biography
  75. https://alumniandfriends.uchicago.edu/alumni-association/alumni-awards/past-award-winners
  76. https://library.gwu.edu/ead/ms2287.xml; and www.gphaonline.org/media/wysiwyg/pdf/bios/rgn_bio_website_2013.pdf
  77. "October 1987 Broadcast Index | Vanderbilt Television News Archive". tvnews.vanderbilt.edu. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  78. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/1995/05/02/senate-section/article/S5996-4 Accessed, December 6, 2016
  79. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/1995/5/3/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/e947-1 Accessed December 5, 2016
  80. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/1995/5/3/senate-section/article/S6028-1 Accessed December 10, 2016
  81. https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-1995-05-02/pdf/CREC-1995-05-02-extensions.pdf Accessed December 9, 2016
  82. http://millercenter.org/oralhistory/interview/ralph-neas Accessed December 7, 2016.
  83. http://rs5.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2006/ms006018.pdf This is the finding aide; to see the actual interview requires a visit to the Library of Congress. Accessed December 1o, 2016
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.