Women's Rights and Legal Advocates Continue Push for Recognition of Equal Rights Amendment

[niyad]

Women’s Rights and Legal Advocates Continue Push for Recognition of Equal Rights Amendment
9/29/2022 by Carrie N. Baker and Roxy Szal


Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), House co-sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment, is joined by members of Congress and women’s rights advocates for a press conference immediately following oral arguments in Illinois v. Ferriero at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. (Makhfi Azizi)

On Wednesday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case of Illinois v. Ferriero—a lawsuit brought against the national archivist to compel him to publish the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit was brought by two of the three final states to ratify the ERA: Nevada and Illinois. (The lawsuit was originally joined by Virginia, but the state dropped out earlier this year after Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares was elected; Miyares is opposed to the ERA.) Immediately following the oral arguments, ERA advocates held a press conference and a rally outside the court. “We are hopeful that this will result in the certification of the ERA,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), co-sponsor of H.J. Res. 28, the Equal Rights Amendment. “It is alarming to me that our Constitution does not have a provision to protect gender equality when 85 percent of U.N. member states have gender provisions in their constitutions.”

“Fifty-two years ago, Shirley Chisholm stood on the House floor in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, and here we are today, still fighting for the same rights,” said Rep. Brenda L. Lawrence (D-Mich), co-chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus. “Since our country’s founding, women have been intentionally left out of the Constitution. As a result, they were treated as second-class citizens and had to abide by laws for which they had no voice or representation. We need the ERA to ensure that the rights of women and girls will not be rolled back by any political trend, but instead, be preserved as basic rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution.”

“America—once a beacon of democracy and equality—has fallen behind the rest of the world when nearly all nations now recognize women’s equality with men in their constitutions and statutes,” said Christian F. Nunes, president of the National Organization for Women. “We must have a constitutional declaration of our equal status, and we need it now.”



The press conference was followed by a rally in support of the ERA. (Makhfi Azizi)

Article V of the U.S. Constitution sets out two requirements for amendments: approval by two-thirds of both chambers of Congress, and ratification by three-fourths (38) of the states. In 1971, the U.S. House of Representative approved the Equal Rights Amendment with a bipartisan vote of 354–24. The next year, the Senate approved the ERA by another bipartisan vote of 84-8. In January of 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA. But despite finally achieving all of the requirements to become an amendment to the Constitution, recognition of the ERA was blocked by the Trump administration.The final ministerial steps to make a constitutional amendment official is for the U.S. archivist to verify the ratifications, then draft a formal proclamation certifying that the amendment is valid and is part of the Constitution. And in January of this year, the Office of Legal Counsel issued a new opinion stating that Congress may take action regarding ratification of the ERA. “The archivist is now responsible for certifying and publishing the amendment,” said Maloney, “which is simply a ministerial duty, one with no room for the exercise of discretion.”

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Ellie Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority. (Makhfi Azizi)
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https://msmagazine.com/2022/09/29/equal-rights-amendment-lawsuit/