‘Law of the Land:’ Biden Signals Need to Ratify Equal Rights Amendment | Women’s rights news

Outgoing President Joe Biden has gone all out in trying to establish himself Equal Rights Amendment part of the United States Constitution.

Friday’s announcement was the latest in a series of 11th-hour statements and actions by the executive branch as Biden seeks to cement his legacy despite one term in office.

In the news ridBiden offered unequivocal support for the proposed amendment, which stipulates that equal rights under the law are not denied “because of sex.”

He also argued that it should be considered the law of the land, despite ongoing legal ambiguities.

“I have supported the Equal Rights Amendment for more than 50 years, and I have long been clear that no one should be discriminated against on the basis of sex,” Biden said.

“We, as a nation, must once and for all affirm and protect the full equality of women.”

Legal ambiguity

Although the US Constitution guarantees “equal protection of the laws” to all citizens, nowhere in the document is sex or gender explicitly indicated.

This has led some scholars and activists to argue that the Equal Rights Amendment is necessary to prevent judges from dismissing discrimination based on sex or gender as beyond the law’s mandate.

The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, was among those who believed that the Constitution’s protections did not extend to sex or gender.

“You don’t need the Constitution to reflect the desires of current society,” Scalia told California Lawyer in 2011. “The Constitution certainly does not require discrimination based on sex. The only question is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t seem like it.”

Most recently, in 2022, Justice Clarence Thomas issued an opinion that the Supreme Court “should reconsider” cases that established the right to same-sex marriage and contraception, on the grounds that they may not fall under constitutional protection.

He called those precedents “demonstrably wrong decisions”.

Difficult road to ratification

It’s unclear whether Biden’s statement Friday will allow the equal rights amendment to clear the final hurdles to be considered established law.

The amendment was prepared for a long time. Beginning in 1923, lawmakers repeatedly tried to pass versions of the amendment multiple times, only to be met with majority opposition in the US Congress.

But as the 20th century progressed, the makeup of Congress began to change, with more women and minority politicians joining the mostly white, male legislature.

In 1971, Democrat Martha Griffiths reintroduced the Equal Rights Amendment in the House of Representatives—and it passed with the necessary two-thirds support. The following year, the Senate took up the bill and also overwhelmingly approved it.

But amending the US Constitution is a difficult process, requiring support at both the federal and state levels. Three-quarters of state legislatures also needed to ratify the amendment.

This is where the Equal Rights Amendment ran aground. Congress was given seven years to ratify the amendment — but only 35 states had done so by that point. A total of 38 countries were needed, out of 50.

Even when Congress extended the deadline until 1982, no other state successfully ratified the amendment. The Equal Rights Amendment was considered largely defeated.

Re-pressure

But recent concerns over access to abortion and threats to LGBTQ rights have rekindled interest in the amendment. Legal groups, including the American Bar Association, have questioned whether the deadline is even constitutional.

And states again began to consider the ratification of the law. He was endorsed by Nevada in 2017. Then Illinois in 2018 and 2020. Virginia became the key 38th country that ratified it.

Biden said he believed the action made the Equal Rights Amendment the law of the land.

“In accordance with my oath and duty to the Constitution and the country, I affirm what I believe and what three-quarters of the states have ratified: the 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protection under the law regardless. their gender,” he wrote in a statement on Friday.

But the legal fate of the Equal Rights Amendment remains unclear. Some states have taken steps to revoke their initial ratification, including Kentucky and Nebraska.

The U.S. National Archivist also declined to certify the amendment, saying it had long since expired deadline.

Ultimately, Biden, as president, does not have the direct authority to force passage of the amendment. Still, his high-profile gesture of support drew applause from longtime advocates of constitutional change.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand from New York, for example, praised Biden’s decision on social networks.

“This is an incredible moment for reproductive freedom and a historic day for equality — especially with Americans facing further degradation of reproductive freedom as a new administration takes office,” she said. wrotereferring to the rules President-elect Donald Trump.

During his first term, Trump appointed three conservative justices to the Supreme Court, paving the way for Decision from 2022 which overturned the federal right to abortion. Trump takes office for a second term on Monday.

Gillibrand indicated that subsequent laws restricting access abortion and other reproductive health care procedures could run afoul of the amendment, if it is passed into law.

“Now, women living in states with restrictions on their reproductive freedoms can — and should — file lawsuits to strike down these unconstitutional laws that discriminate on the basis of sex.”