Equal Rights Amendment
In his freshman year in the legislature, Richey served on the Louisiana House Civil Law Committee that voted "unfavorably" on the unratified Equal Rights Amendment. ERA critics saw the measure as a "federal power grab" that would increase the discretionary powers of federal judges and set aside state laws in regard to the family. Richey worked behind the scenes to convince four fellow committee members, Jock Scott of Alexandria, Michael F. "Mike" Thompson of Lafayette, A.J. "Buddy" McNamara of Metairie, and Lane A. Carson of New Orleans, to withdraw their earlier support for the ERA. The surprise turnaround of the four members, all of whom later switched to Republican affiliation, killed ERA ratification prospects in Louisiana, much to the consternation of feminist backers of the proposed amendment as well as House Speaker E. L. "Bubba" Henry of Jonesboro in Jackson Parish, who thought that he had placed ERA supporters on the committee.
When the extended deadline for ERA ratification expired, Richey said that the proposed amendment would have been a "radical assault on the Constitution." While the ERA was, in Richey's words, "officially buried", he warned that there would be future battles to "promote a radical social agenda on America."
Read more about this topic: Dan Richey
Famous quotes containing the words equal rights, equal, rights and/or amendment:
“The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer ... form the great body of the people of the United States, they are the bone and sinew of the country—men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“The embattled gates to equal rights indeed opened up for modern women, but I sometimes think to myself: “That is not what I meant by freedom—it is only ‘social progress.’””
—Helene Deutsch (1884–1982)
“[The Republican Party] consists of those who, believing in the doctrine that mankind are capable of governing themselves and hating hereditary power as an insult to the reason and an outrage to the rights of men, are naturally offended at every public measure that does not appeal to the understanding and to the general interest of the community.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“... when we shall have our amendment to the Constitution of the United States, everyone will think it was always so, just exactly as many young people believe that all the privileges, all the freedom, all the enjoyments which woman now possesses were always hers. They have no idea of how every single inch of ground that she stands upon to-day has been gained by the hard work of some little handful of women of the past.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)