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Another widely noted case indirectly affecting the Church arose from an Idaho court challenge to the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The Church had taken a strong official stand against the ERA, and proponents of the amendment claimed that U.S. District Judge Marion J. Callister would be biased on the issue because he was a prominent local Church leader. Judge Callister refused to disqualify himself (Idaho v. Freeman, 478 F. Supp. 33 [1979], 507 F. Supp 706 [1981]) and subsequently ruled against the ERA on the major issues. On appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the case was dismissed as moot because the time for ratification of the ERA had expired (National Organization for Women, Inc., et al. v. Idaho et al., 459 U.S. 809 [1982]).
Source: Ludlow, Daniel H, ed. The Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Vol. 2. LEGAL AND JUDICAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1992.
In the 1970s, as the controversy in America over women's rights escalated, the First Presidency took a public stance in favor of full equality before the law for women but, at the same time, publicly opposed the Equal Rights Amendment as anti- family.
Source: Ludlow, Daniel H, ed. The Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Vol. 2. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1992.