A joint resolution establishing the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.
This bill is a joint resolution that asserts the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has already achieved ratification by three-fourths of the states and, notwithstanding any earlier deadline, should be treated as valid and part of the Constitution. It relies on the text of the ERA previously proposed in 1972 and overrides the prior time limit set by House Joint Resolution 208 (the 1972 joint resolution that originally set a deadline for ratification). In effect, if enacted, the resolution would retroactively recognize the ERA as constitutional, meaning the Constitution would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex and require equal rights under the law for all people, with the judiciary likely to interpret and apply that standard going forward.
Key Points
- 1Purpose: To retroactively affirm that the Equal Rights Amendment has been ratified by the required number of states and is valid as part of the Constitution, despite any time limits.
- 2Legal mechanism: directs that the ERA’s article, as proposed to the states, is “valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution,” overriding the earlier deadline in HJR 208 (1972).
- 3Threshold for ratification: Claims that three-fourths of the states have ratified the ERA, which would be 38 of 50 states.
- 4Scope of effect: If treated as constitutional, the ERA would ban sex-based discrimination in law and policy across federal and state levels.
- 5Legal and constitutional debate: This approach raises questions about retroactive constitutional status, the force of time limits on ratification, and potential litigation or judicial challenges to determine whether the measure can legally amend or reinterpret the Constitution through a congressional joint resolution rather than the standard Article V amendment process.