In a last-minute effort to protect reproductive rights, President Joe Biden has announced that the Equal Rights Amendment is ratified.
“It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people,” Biden said in a statement on Friday, per CNN. “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.”
A senior Biden administration official said the latest move is not an executive action, but it’s “stating an opinion that it is ratified.”
“He is using his power of the presidency to make it clear that he believes – and he agrees with leading constitutional scholars and the American Bar Association – not that it should be, but it is the 28th Amendment of the Constitution,” the official said, per CNN.
According to the Constitution, the amendment needs to be ratified by 38 states. Virginia became the 38th state in 2020 after the bill stood still for decades.
Some legal experts, however, continue to challenge Biden’s effort to ratify the amendment, which Congress first passed in 1972. The opponents argue that Ratification deadlines have passed and five states have rescinded their decision to ratify the amendment. Meanwhile, Biden cites the American Bar Association’s opinion, saying “no time limit was included in the text of the Equal Rights Amendment.” The President also said “the Constitution’s framers wisely avoided the chaos that would have resulted if states were able to take back the ratifying votes at any time.”
Dr. Colleen Shogan, the archivist of the United States, is responsible for certifying and publishing the amendment after the President issues his opinion. In a statement in December, Shogan said the amendment “cannot be certified as part of the Constitution due to established legal, judicial, and procedural decisions.” Shogan said the Office of Legal Counsel at the US Department of Justice has affirmed that ratification deadlines were enforceable.
Biden’s senior official, however, told CNN that the archivist is “required to publish an amendment once it has been effectively ratified.”
Ultimately, however, the official said “It will be up to the courts to interpret this and their view of the Equal Rights Amendment.”
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York also addressed the topic in a letter to interested parties, CNN reported. Gillibrand said Biden is aiming to “codify women’s freedom and equality without needing anything from a bitterly divided and broken Congress” following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. in 2022.
