Equal Rights Amendment

Attorney Mary Mahoney offers oral arguments for Elizabeth Cady Stanton Trust for recognition that ERA has already been ratified.

This is how Wendy Murphy described this hearing on her twitter feed:

Incredible job today in court by ERA Attorney Mary Mahoney from Michigan! Really powerful oral argument in support of the ERA and full equality for all #Women! Thanks to leading Women’s rights group Elizabeth Cady Stanton Trust for its fierce leadership!

 

Publish the ERA, Let the Skirmishes Begin

Prominent constitutional scholars argue that the ERA time limit was advisory only, as it was not in the text of the amendment. They also say that the five states which rescinded their approval of the ERA many years after approving it have no settled right to rescind (at least two states tried to rescind the 14th amendment, to no avail). Article V, which lays out precisely the steps to add an amendment to the Constitution, says nothing about time limits. Congress added them for several amendments in the 20th century to increase its own power and control. But those time limits were all added to the text of those amendments. Not so the ERA.

. . .

The ERA needs to be published. Then we can all make popcorn and watch the legal skirmishes commence. But once published, it will be up to conservatives to prove why equality for women should continue to be excluded from the constitution of the world’s oldest democracy.

National ERA March for Ratification and Extension
National ERA March for Ratification and Extension

Women's eNews: President Biden: Why Won’t You Publish The Equal Rights Amendment?

President Biden: Why Won’t You Publish The Equal Rights Amendment?

The Biden Administration is actually going into court and fighting against the Equal Rights Amendment, a right which would have saved Roe v. Wade.

Caitlin Rich
November 6, 2022

President Biden has failed to support the publication of the Equal Rights Amendment
President Biden has failed to support the publication of the Equal Rights Amendment

“We must recognize the clear will of the American people and definitively enshrine the principle of gender equality in the Constitution. It is long past time that we put all doubt to rest. I am calling on Congress to act immediately to pass a resolution recognizing ratification of the ERA.”

President Joseph Biden Jr.

This statement, released by President Biden two years after the state of Virginia’s ratification, is being labeled “clear duplicity” by Nicole Vorrasi Bates, attorney and founder of Shattering Glass. Although Biden has implied Congress is responsible for recognizing the Equal Rights Amendment, many politicians, lawyers and even scholars question why the Executive Branch has still not published it. Most recently, the DC Court of Appeals heard the oral arguments for Illinois v. Ferriero, but to this, Vorrasi Bates says, “The Biden Administration is actually going into court and fighting against the Equal Rights Amendment, a right which would have saved Roe v. Wade.”

Illinois v. Ferriero and the DC Court of Appeals 

USA-Today: Remind me why the Biden administration is in court fighting publication of the ERA?

Image removed.The publication of the Equal Rights Amendment is a simple ministerial action and should have happened when Virginia became the 38th state to ratify it in 2020.

A woman holds up a sign as members of Congress and representatives of women's groups rally in 2012 to mark the 40th anniversary of congressional passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. The amendment included what the Congressional Research Service calls a "customary, but not constitutionally mandatory," seven-year deadline for ratification by three-fourths of the states.
  • Women's rights are not enshrined in the Constitution. The ERA was supposed to change that.
  • By 2020, the ERA had the 38 ratifications necessary for it to become the 28th Amendment.
  • Publication of the ERA is a simple action and should have happened when Virginia became the latest state to ratify it.

FIST Publishes brochure on ERA

See attached.

#PublishERAJoe!

The ERA would end women’s second-class citizenship by finally giving women equal standing in the federal CONSTITUTION, thus would ensure women’s equal TREATMENT under all laws, regulations, and policies of state and federal governments.

The ERA would afford women equal treatment under the DUE PROCESS CLAUSE and the EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE, which affect all other rights including everything from obtaining a dog license to the First Amendment, LIBERTY, etc. These fundamental constitutional rights ensure that all people enjoy the most basic freedoms: autonomy, self-determination, authority over the self, bodily integrity, etc. Without the ERA, women cannot be assured that any rights will apply equally to them.

The ERA would require courts to use strict scrutiny when reviewing claims involving different treatment of women. Without the ERA, courts are allowed to use only intermediate scrutiny, which, unlike strict scrutiny, permits infringements on rights.

Biden Nominee for National Archivist Demurrs to Courts on Publication of ERA

At the confirmation hearing for President Biden's nominee to serve as National Archivist (held 2022-09-21), Dr. Colleen Shogan answered questions about her duties under 1 US Code 106(b), committing to demur to judicial authorities over whether to publish her findings that the Equal Rights Amendment has been ratified by the requisite thirty-eight states.  (HINT for any who have not been paying attention, Virginia became the thirty-eighth state to ratify the ERA in January 2020). 


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