Trump administration casts doubt on women's rights amendment push

[Swordsmyth]

The Trump administration on Wednesday said it was too late to renew the effort to push through a decades-old proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would ensure American women have equal rights to men.The U.S. Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel issued a legal opinion saying the deadline had long passed for additional states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, which was backed by 35 states in the 1970s, three short of the required number.
The amendment, which was first proposed in the 1920s and gained traction during the rise of the feminist movement, states in part: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex."
Under the Constitution, 38 states and both the House of Representatives and the Senate have to approve a proposed amendment for it for it to be formally adopted.
The House and Senate both supported the measure in 1972 but set a seven-year deadline, later extended until 1982, for it to be ratified.


The opinion issued on Wednesday could provide legal ammunition for opponents as the debate plays out at the state level and in Congress.
Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel wrote in the opinion that while Congress "had the constitutional authority" to set the deadline, it cannot now reopen the issue.
"Congress may not revive a proposed amendment after the deadline has expired," he wrote.
"Should the people of the United States wish to adopt the ERA as part of the Constitution, then the appropriate path is for Congress ... to propose that amendment once more," Engel added.
The National Archives and Records Administration, a federal agency that has a role in certifying ratification, said in a statement that it would abide by the Justice Department opinion "unless otherwise directed by a final court order."

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/trump-administration-casts-doubt-womens-172514056.html

[timosman]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/15/us/era-virginia-vote.html


Jan. 15, 2020

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia on Wednesday became the 38th state to approve the Equal Rights Amendment, a symbolic victory for those who for generations have been pushing for a constitutional guarantee of legal rights regardless of sex.

Virginia’s decision does not seal the amendment’s addition to the United States Constitution. A deadline for three-quarters, or 38, of the 50 states to approve the E.R.A. expired in 1982, so the future of the measure is uncertain, and experts said the issue would likely be tied up in the courts and in the political sphere for years.

But the symbolism of the action in Virginia was significant after a struggle that had been raised, hard fought and, at times, forgotten over nearly 100 years.

“It’s just another hurdle, another level of that ceiling that’s cracked,” said Daphne Portis, 58, an E.R.A. activist who clutched photos of female leaders — Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug and Gloria Steinem — as she watched the debate among lawmakers in Richmond.

Women packed the galleries of the State Capitol as the debate unfolded, many of them wearing sashes that read, “Equal rights for women.” Some members of the House of Delegates, which for the first time in its 401-year history is led by a woman, Eileen Filler-Corn, brought their young daughters to witness the vote.

...

[Swordsmyth]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/15/us/era-virginia-vote.html
They are too late and many states already rescinded their approvals.