The Hill: Democrats, advocates urge Biden to sign ERA before end of term

[Dennis Donovan]

The Hill - Democrats, advocates urge Biden to sign ERA before end of term

by Cheyanne M. Daniels - 12/10/24 12:31 PM ET



Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) led a coalition of fellow legislators and advocates on Tuesday in calling on President Biden to certify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) before his term ends in January.

Citing the incoming Trump administration and soon-to-be GOP controlled House and Senate, Bush said “lives are on the line” if the ERA is not passed.

“The publication of the Equal Rights Amendment may be long overdue, but the stakes for gender equality have never been higher,” the outgoing lawmaker said from outside the Capitol on Tuesday.

She also pointed to the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments for a case that could unilaterally ban gender affirming care for transgender minors as well as the ongoing abortion bans across the nation.

“Our bodies, our rights, our lives are on the line,” Bush said. “While progress has been made in enacting laws that prohibit discrimination based on sex, equal rights are still not constitutionally protected.”

/snip

[Nictuku]

1. I don't understand why this has not yet been done

[Omnipresent]

4. When they tried to have it done in the 70's...

It required 2/3 of the state legislatures to pass it.

I don’t believe any “Red states” would care to pass it.

[SCantiGOP]

12. Deadline for enough states has expires

And several states that did pass it have since rescinded their approval.
He could sign it, but there is no doubt that any court would not let it stand, especially the Supreme court if it worked its way up to them.

[Passages]

2. Yes.

[kacekwl]

3. Is there a bill

on his desk waiting ?

[WarGamer]

5. I can't find a single source explaining WHY he hasn't done it yet...

They've had the 3/4 of the States point since 2020.

[LeftInTX]

8. They only have 29 states(58%) or 32 states (64%) or 35 states (70%) or 38 (76%)

Hawaii (March 22, 1972)
New Hampshire (March 23, 1972)
Delaware (March 23, 1972)
Iowa (March 24, 1972)
Kansas (March 28, 1972)
Texas (March 30, 1972)
Alaska (April 5, 1972)
Rhode Island (April 14, 1972)
New Jersey (April 17, 1972)
Colorado (April 21, 1972)
West Virginia (April 22, 1972)
Wisconsin (April 26, 1972)
New York (May 18, 1972)
Michigan (May 22, 1972)
Maryland (May 26, 1972)
Massachusetts (June 21, 1972)
Pennsylvania (September 27, 1972)[99]
California (November 13, 1972)
Wyoming (January 26, 1973)
Oregon (February 8, 1973)[100]
Minnesota (February 8, 1973)
New Mexico (February 28, 1973)
Vermont (March 1, 1973)
Connecticut (March 15, 1973)
Washington (March 22, 1973)
Maine (January 18, 1974)
Montana (January 25, 1974)
Ohio (February 7, 1974)
Indiana (January 18, 1977)[101]
Nevada (March 22, 2017)[102]
Illinois (May 30, 2018)[103]
Virginia (January 27, 2020)[104]

The deadline to ratify was 1979:

The following states rescinded:
Nebraska (March 15, 1973: Legislative Resolution No. 9)
Tennessee (April 23, 1974: Senate Joint Resolution No. 29)
Idaho (February 8, 1977: House Concurrent Resolution No. 10)
Kentucky (March 17, 1978: House [Joint] Resolution No. 20)
South Dakota (March 5,[107] 1979: Senate Joint Resolution No. 2)[108]
North Dakota (March 19, 2021: Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4010)

If NV, IL and VA can be included and all the states that rescinded can be included , then it can be ratified.


After the disputed June 30, 1982, extended deadline had come and gone, the Supreme Court, at the beginning of its new term, on October 4, 1982, in the separate case of NOW v. Idaho, 459 U.S. 809 (1982), vacated the federal district court decision in Idaho v. Freeman,[139] which, in addition to declaring March 22, 1979, as ERA's expiration date, had upheld the validity of state rescissions. The Supreme Court declared these controversies moot based on the memorandum of the appellant Gerald P. Carmen, the then-Administrator of General Services, that the ERA had not received the required number of ratifications (38) and so "the Amendment has failed of adoption no matter what the resolution of the legal issues presented here."[140][141]

In the 1939 case of Coleman v. Miller, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress has the final authority to determine whether, by lapse of time, a proposed constitutional amendment has lost its vitality before being ratified by enough states, and whether state ratifications are effective in light of attempts at subsequent withdrawal. The Court stated: "We think that, in accordance with this historic precedent, the question of the efficacy of ratifications by state legislatures, in the light of previous rejection or attempted withdrawal, should be regarded as a political question pertaining to the political departments, with the ultimate authority in the Congress in the exercise of its control over the promulgation of the adoption of the amendment."[142]

In the context of this judicial precedent, nonpartisan counsel to a Nevada state legislative committee concluded in 2017 that "If three more states sent their ratification to the appropriate federal official, it would then be up to Congress to determine whether a sufficient number of states have ratified the Equal Rights Amendment."[143] In 2018, Virginia attorney general Mark Herring wrote an opinion suggesting that Congress could extend or remove the ratification deadline.[144][145]

_________________

But WTH: He should do it anyway. States will appeal and SCOTUS will decide.

[WarGamer]

9. THX FOR THE DETAILS... EDUCATIONAL.

[Evolve Dammit]

13. Note the solid red states that opposed. Decades of knuckle dragging.

[walkingman]

6. There should be no deadline for equality. Congress can remove any arbitrary deadline. Force the issue.

Make these neanderthals say why they oppose it.

[MichMan]

10. When did Congress pass legislation to remove the ERA deadline?

It wasn't done when it originally expired.

The OP is claiming that Biden can just deem it passed as if the deadline doesn't exist.

[walkingman]

16. The point is that Congress can and should pass a bill that would remove any

deadline and pass the amendment. And now is the time to force the issue.

The Idea that the GOP opposes it (which is the case) should be an issue that the entire nation recognizes and let them explain why they think that equality in America is a non-issue.

Make them tell their wifes, sisters, daughters, the women of America why you should not be an equal citizen in this country.

[mcar]

7. I hope this happens

[Evolve Dammit]

11. YES!!!! Decades overdue

[Nictuku]

14. "...for it is the fate of a woman

“...for it is the fate of a woman
Long to be patient and silent, to wait like a ghost that is speechless,
Till some questioning voice dissolves the spell of its silence.
Hence is the inner life of so many suffering women
Sunless and silent and deep, like subterranean rivers
Running through caverns of darkness...”
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - (1807-1882)

What we women are dealing with today, is long awaited. I saw this quote today and had to share it because it does show that the issues of inequality between men and women is no new struggle.

[Blue_Tires]

15. Won't TFG and Elmer just tear it up in January?

[Rhiannon12866]

17. I voted in favor of ERA in one of my very first votes ever

[electric_blue68]

19. Cool!

[Rhiannon12866]

20. And that was more than a couple of decades ago!

[electric_blue68]

21. Yup. 😑 🤬

[electric_blue68]

18. I say: Sign it! Why? Throw a monkey wrench in drumphf's term as it works it way up various judges...and as another...

poster said ...

Let all the mothers, grandmothers, wives, daughters, nieces, cousins, women friends, acquaintences see, and all the men who truly support them - your vote.

"Yay, or Nay for Women’s First Class Status!"

It's Damn (long past) time!!!