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BY CARRIE N. BAKER | One of the most important actions the Biden and Harris administration can take—one that will affect all areas of women’s and girls’ lives—is ensuring that the Equal Rights Amendment becomes part of the U.S. Constitution. “Passing the ERA, let’s start there,” Harris told an audience in Iowa during a campaign event in 2019, when asked what she would do for women in the first 100 days if elected president.
When the amendment received its 38th state ratification (the final one needed) in January 2020, the Trump administration blocked the national archivist from certifying the amendment, and the Department of Justice (then headed by Attorney General Bill Barr) issued a 38-page opinion arguing that the final three states’ ratifications were too late and did not count. The attorneys general from those states—Nevada, Virginia and Illinois—filed a lawsuit to force recognition of the amendment, but the Biden Justice Department can simply withdraw Barr’s opinion and direct certification of the ERA as the 28th amendment to the Constitution, at last guaranteeing equal rights to women. (To read the full article, click here.)
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