![]() Though two years have passed since Virginia’s ratification, the archivist has refused to act, saying a green light is needed from the White House. We are literally one signature away from changing the Constitution. The only step left required by statute says the national archivist has to certify the additional ratifications and publish the amendment in the Federal Register. With the amendment having passed in Congress by more than the two-thirds vote required, and being ratified by enough states, respected constitutional legal scholars agree that the ERA is now the 28th Amendment. In 2020, Virginia became the 38th and final state needed to satisfy the Constitution’s Article V, which governs the amendment process. ![]() The ERA has already met all the constitutional requirements for ratification. Phyllis Schlafly’s STOP ERA movement was born. But after the Roe decision, many conservatives channeled their opposition to abortion toward the ERA, launching a wider fight against women’s rights. The ERA barreled through 30 of the 38 necessary state ratifications in the first year after its passage, and ratification seemed inevitable. Many, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, have criticized the decision to base the right to abortion on privacy, not equality. It hyperfocuses on a pregnant person’s body and pregnancy timing rather than a right to equal citizenship and freedom from discrimination on the basis of sex. With the Constitution still lacking an explicit right to equality, the Roe decision is a technical, medicalized one. But it had still not been ratified by 1973 when Roe came down. The House approved the ERA 354 to 23, and just eight senators voted against it. ![]() ![]() Less than a decade later, in 1972, the ERA passed in Congress with little opposition from either party. The court ruled to permit contraception, affirming that while privacy was not an explicit constitutional guarantee, it is found in the penumbras, or shadows, of other existing rights. Douglas instead cobbled together guarantees within the Bill of Rights (the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 9th Amendments). But, in part because there was no explicit equality guarantee in the Constitution, Justice William O. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |