The Equal Rights Amendment is being resurrected. Charlotte Hays writes:
Congress approved the ERA in March of 1972, setting a seven-year period to get approval of the three quarters of the states required to pass a constitutional amendment. The time was extended to 1982, but still only 35 states had approved the ERA.
Nevada and Illinois approved the ERA after President Trump was elected. So, Virginia’s approval would make the 38th state.
But it's more than 30 years after the deadline extension. Supporters of the ERA will go all in for a new extension that would allow a belated approval vote by Virginia to put the ERA over the finish line.
If Virginia does approve the ERA, there will be “a legal showdown, intense lobbying and constitutional fireworks.”
The ERA is a rallying point for the left, buy it is also something of an anachronism: Can you name one right that women don’t have in our country today?
But why not just pass it and be done with the controversies and divisiveness that will be the inevitable result of the renewed battle over the ERA? Aren’t we weary of fighting?
[Charlotte Hays, “Will the Democratic Sweep in Virginia Resurrect the Equal Rights Amendment?,” Independent Women's Forum, November 6]
Legislation is before Congress now to provide for ratification of the ERA. It is HJRes79.
If both the House and Senate approve it, it would allow for the 3 states that ratified the ERA after the 1982 deadline to count and ERA is in.
The resolution is cosponsored by 212 Democrats and 2 Republicans.