He is best known for directing a series of national campaigns to strengthen and protect civil rights laws during the Reagan and Bush presidencies.
[13] He served for eight years as chief legislative assistant to Republican Senators Edward Brooke of Massachusetts and David Durenberger of Minnesota.
[15] Neas states that major influences 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.
[20] 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.
[22] While working for 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.
William T. Taylor, former General Counsel and Staff Director of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, and then an LCCR executive committee member wrote 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.
[45][46][47][48] In 1998, Neas ran against incumbent Republican Representative Connie Morella in Maryland's 8th Congressional District, composed primarily of the suburban areas just northwest of Washington, DC.
[83] Neas has taught law school and undergraduate courses on the legislative process, the United States Constitution, public policy, and the media.
[91] In 2009, along with Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Ver) and Arlen Specter (R and then D-Pa), and conservative activist Manny Miranda[92] Neas was the subject of a film documentary entitled Advise and Dissent;[93] 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.
[15] In early 1979, Neas received last rites from a Roman Catholic priest after the onset of near-total paralysis which was caused by Guillain–Barré syndrome (also known as "French Polio.
")[103][104] After nearly five months in the hospital, much of it on a respirator in the intensive care unit, he recovered, and co-founded the Guillain Barre Syndrome Foundation, whose primary focus is on families affected by the disease.