As the clock ticks down on President Biden's time in office, a movement has gained traction urging him to act before his term ends to instruct the U.S. Archivist to certify and publish the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the Constitution. We can all take action to ask him to do so.
First introduced by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman 1923, the proposed amendment to the US Constitution, was reintroduced by Rep. Martha Griffiths in 1971. Approved by the U.S. House in 1971 and the U.S. Senate in 1972, the ERA was intended guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Despite ratification by 30 states within the first year, mounting opposition from religious and political groups slowed the effort.
Some additional states were added between 1972 and 1977, while 6 states retracted previous ratification for a total of 35. A proposed deadline extension from March 1979 to June 1982 was finally ratified by a needed 38-state majority in 2020. In 2017 Nevada became the first state in 40 years to ratify the ERA, followed by Illinois in 2018; in 2020 Virginia in became 38th state to ratify, meeting the threshold (38 states) for an amendment to be added to the Constitution. And while legal wrangling and political debate continues, our Constitution still does not mention women.
President Biden has the authority to bypass some of the legal obstacles
and instruct the National Archivist to publish and certify the ERA to enshrine its words in the U.S. Constitution that guarantee equal rights to all people regardless of sex.
- Biden Publish the ERA (take action to add your name): www.bidenpublishtheera.org
- League of Women Voters (take action to add your name): President Biden must immediately publish the Equal Rights Amendment
- Find Law: 1 U.S.C. § 106b - U.S. Code - Unannotated Title 1. General Provisions § 106b. Amendments to Constitution
- Bloomberg Law-12/11/24: Biden pressured to publish Equal Rights Amendment on his way out
- The Hill-12/10/24-Democrats, advocates urge Biden to sign ERA before end of term
- USA Today | Opinion-11/29/24: President Biden, you vowed to add ratified ERA to our Constitution. Time's Up.
- Center for American Progress-8/26/24: What comes next for the Equal Rights Amendment?
- ERA Coalition-12/7/21: Who is the U.S. Archivist and what does he do?
- Brennan Center for Justice-1/23/20: The Equal Rights Amendment explained
- Wikipedia: Equal Rights Amendment
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