[1] In 1988 then-Governor Bill Clinton appointed Dickey as a special justice for a case before the Arkansas Supreme Court.

He served on the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations, and five of its subcommittees:[citation needed] Agriculture, National Security, Energy and Water, Transportation and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

[citation needed] A Second Amendment rights advocate, in 1996 Dickey responded to a supposed bias[3] on the part of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose research on firearm injuries and fatalities was deemed motivated by pro gun-control politics, rather than science.

Then House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois came into the district in a bid to save Dickey's seat, while President Clinton poured massive resources on behalf of Ross.

[5] After leaving office, Dickey operated JD Consulting,[6] primarily a federal government lobbying firm, which represents clients' interest in children's health care, navigation and water, tax matters, homeland security, and roads.