Equal Rights Amendment

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.

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).