Legal experts condemn Biden’s constitutional change at the last minute: ‘Cynical and irrelevant’

Legal experts criticized President Biden’s announcement calling the 28th Amendment bill “cynical and irrelevant.”

Biden released a statement Friday saying the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) should be considered ratified and a new addition to the U.S. Constitution.

“It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people. In accordance with your 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 of their gender,” he said.

BIDEN’S OFFICIAL X BILL MAKES A RUDE WITH A CALL FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT THAT DOESN’T EXIST

“Biden’s announcement is both cynical and irrelevant,” said the former assistant US attorney and Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy. “If he believed what he was saying, he would have said it when his administration started, not when he’s on his way out as a failed one-term president.

“More importantly, the president has no constitutional role in the amendment process, so his position carries no weight.”

“President Biden seems intent on moving his administration from disgusting to absurd,” Jonathan TurleyFox News contributor and Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, told Fox News Digital. “This was an embarrassing moment of pandering to the most extreme elements in his party. It’s a position based on a long-rejected and frankly ridiculous premise.”

When asked by reporters about the timing of the announcement, Biden said Friday, “Because I had to get all the facts and I contacted every constitutional scholar in the world to make sure it was the right decision.”

The ERA would prohibit discrimination based on sex. It was sent to the states for ratification in 1972. with Congress setting a 1979 deadline for three-quarters of state legislatures to ratify the amendment. Later, the deadline was extended until 1982.

DANA PERINO KNOCKS AT BIDEN’S CONTROVERSIAL FAREWELL

Virginia became the last state to adopt the amendment in 2020, bringing the final number of states that have adopted the amendment to a total of 38. McCarthy noted that the ERA “has not been ratified by states within the legally allotted time frame.”

“The only way to get it into the Constitution would be to start over,” McCarthy said. “Everybody knows it, including Biden. That’s why the National Archivist didn’t release it, nor did Biden have the audacity to try to order it done.”

Turley also said, “Biden noticeably stopped short of providing the left with what it most wanted: an actual executive order of ratification. He simply made a statement and probably left the matter to the archivist.”

ERA: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT

The State Archivist is responsible for the official implementation of constitutional amendments. The archivist previously refused to certify the amendment citing the 2020 opinion. DOJ Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) which “affirmed that the ratification deadline set by Congress for the ERA is valid and enforceable.”

“The OLC has concluded that extending or removing the deadline requires new action by Congress or the courts. Court decisions at the District and District levels have confirmed that the ratification deadlines set by Congress for the ERA are valid,” the National Archives said in a statement in December. “Therefore, the Archivist of the United States cannot legally promulgate the Equal Rights Amendment. As leaders of the National Archives, we will respect these legal precedents and uphold the constitutional framework within which we operate.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“This is just a step up,” McCarthy said. “It won’t have any lasting significance.”