Biden says the Equal Rights Amendment should be considered ratified

President Joe Biden announced on Friday that the Equal Rights Amendment would be considered a ratified addition to the US Constitution, making a symbolic statement that could not reverse a decades-long push for gender equality.

“It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people,” Biden said. “According to my oath and duty to the Constitution and to the country, I affirm that I believe, and that three-fourths of the states have ratified: The 28th Amendment is the law of the land and guarantees all Americans equal rights and protection before the law. of their kind.”

The statement, made just days before the Democrat was replaced by Republican Donald Trump, will probably have no effect. Presidents have no role in the change process. The head of the National Archives previously said the amendment could not be approved because it had not been ratified by Congress before the deadline.

On Friday, the National Archives reiterated its position, saying “the underlying legal and procedural issues have not changed.”

A senior Biden administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss White House plans, said Biden has not directed the archivist to approve the amendment, sidestepping what could become a legal battle over the separation of powers.

‘Do your job’

Activists gathered outside the National Archives to mark Biden’s statement and called on the archivist to take action.

“Do your job,” said Zakia Thomas, head of the ERA Coalition. “The president has fulfilled his duty.”

Claudia Nachega, leader of the Young Feminist Party, said the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment would mark “the beginning of a new American era that gives us a fighting chance to survive a second Trump presidency.”

The Equal Rights Amendment, which banned discrimination based on gender, was sent to the states for ratification in 1972. Congress set a deadline of 1979 for three-quarters of state legislatures to ratify the amendment, then extended it to 1982.

But by 2020, when Virginia lawmakers passed the amendment, 38 states had ratified it. Congress or the courts would have to change the deadline for the amendment to be considered approved, the archivist said.