Members of the House authored a letter urging President Joe Biden to take action to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, protecting rights for all regardless of sex, before he leaves office early next year.
“As we approach the conclusion of your historic administration, we urge you to take immediate action to recognize the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) as the 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” they wrote in the letter dated Sunday. “We must continue our efforts to fully affirm and recognize the equality of rights for all people, regardless of sex, as part of our Constitution, a vital effort that has never been more urgent.”
The House members’ letter follows a similar one sent to Biden in November, signed by 46 Democratic senators.
The ERA, first drafted in 1923, states that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” It also grants Congress power to enforce the amendment.
With the approaching Donald Trump administration and his impending assault on various rights, the members of Congress wrote that ratifying the ERA is “essential as we prepare to transition to an administration that has been openly hostile to reproductive freedom, access to health care, and LGBTQIA+ rights.”
The representatives, led by Rep. Cori Bush and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who co-chair the Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment, argued that the ERA “has already met the constitutional requirements for ratification.”
“We were hoping to be able to be progressing forward as it comes to gender equality and women’s rights, but we are going backwards, and at this point we [have] an avalanche of destruction coming our way,” Bush told The Washington Post.
“The Equal Rights Amendment was introduced to ensure constitutional gender equality as the law of the land,” Pressley told the paper in a statement. “Yet over a century later, we’re still fighting to codify the ERA.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is also in favor of enshrining protections based on sex by ratifying the ERA and has been trying to convince Biden to take action.
“I’ve been working really hard just on the audience of one, trying to make the case to [Biden] personally, to say, ‘I want this to be part of your legacy as a president I respect and admire; you should make this part of your legacy,’” she told The New York Times. “I’m trying to give them all the legal reasons and political reasons.”
Even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been pushing behind the scenes to move the ERA forward by speaking to the archivist about the amendment at Gillibrand’s request.
Constitutional amendments require three-quarters of the states (38 states) to ratify them in order to take effect. Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA in 2020. Congress approved the ERA in 1972, and a year later, 30 states had ratified it, but a STOP ERA campaign led by conservative activist Phillys Schlafly halted its progress. Because a 1982 ratification deadline set by Congress lapsed, and five states — Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, Tennessee, and South Dakota — have since rescinded their prior approval of the ERA (although precedent exists for dismissing such retractions), its path forward is still in question.
Members of Congress are now pressing Biden to “issue a proclamation recognizing the ERA as the 28th Amendment and direct the Archivist to certify and publish it.”
The ERA is popular with Americans, with 78 percent stating in a survey conducted earlier this month that they believe the ERA should be part of the Constitution.
“By directing the Archivist to publish the ERA, you will leave an indelible mark on the history of this nation, demonstrating once again that your legacy is one of expanding rights, protecting freedoms, and securing a more inclusive future for all Americans,” the representatives wrote.