More than 50 years after Congress sent the Equal Rights Amendment to states for ratification, President Joe Biden said the amendment should be part of the U.S. Constitution.
In a statement released Friday, President Biden said the ERA has “cleared all necessary hurdles to be formally added to the Constitution as the 28th Amendment.”
“It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people. In keeping with my oath and duty to Constitution and country, I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: the 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex,” the statement read, in part.
Christian F. Nunes, president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), said her organization is excited about the prospect of constitutional equal protections.
“We are very excited about this, but the same time, we recognize that this is still a battle,” Nunes told WTOP. “NOW has always been involved in this fight, will continue to be involved in this fight, if that means signing on to different litigation to make sure that women’s rights are protected and published into the Constitution, we will do that as well.”
Biden’s statement, which comes days before he is replaced by Donald Trump, will probably not have any impact. Presidents do not have any role in the amendment process.
The leader of the National Archives had previously said that the amendment cannot be certified because it wasn’t ratified before a deadline set by Congress. The archivist said Congress or the courts must change the deadline to consider the amendment as certified.
On Friday, the National Archives reiterated the position by saying “the underlying legal and procedural issues have not changed.”
“Women need this,” Nunes said. “This is part of the reason why Dobbs took place. This is part of the reason why we’re seeing this battle with abortion bans and women’s bodily autonomy, because there are no guaranteed provisions in the Constitution that protects us. So, we need it to be guaranteed.”
A senior Biden administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the White House’s plans, said Biden was not directing the archivist to certify the amendment, sidestepping what could have become a legal battle over the separation of powers.
The Equal Rights Amendment, which would prohibit 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 it wasn’t until 2020, when Virginia lawmakers passed the amendment, that 38 states had ratified it.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.