John, Fifty years ago this month, the House of Representatives took a critical step in advancing women’s equality nationwide by passing the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), designed to guarantee constitutional protection against sex and gender discrimination. By the end of that decade, only 35 states had ratified the amendment ahead of an arbitrary deadline. But that deadline was not included in the text of the amendment passed by Congress and ratified by the states and, as such, lacks any constitutional authority. Since then, the Equal Rights Amendment has received the requisite support, three-fourths (38) of the states having ratified the amendment. Yet the ERA remains uncertified by the National Archivist for inclusion in the Constitution. Under the direction of former Attorney General Bill Barr, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), in a January 2020 memo, argued that the ERA has not been properly ratified because of the arbitrary deadline. The National Archivist, in accordance with this opinion, has refused to certify and publish the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. Sign if you agree: The National Archivist must certify the Equal Rights Amendment. In April, we authored a coalition letter urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to instruct the OLC to rescind its 2020 advisory opinion, which will clear the way for the National Archivist to publish and certify the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. Now the House Oversight and Reform Committee is joining the call for certification. The Committee’s hearing last week stressed the importance of the ERA in a time when women, particularly women of color, are facing new waves of discrimination without the legal tools needed to fight back. The Constitution does not make the Department of Justice a gatekeeper on the legal validity of an amendment, nor does it provide Congress with authority to impose a deadline on ratification. The Equal Rights Amendment has been ratified. It’s time to make it official. Tell Attorney General Garland to rescind the 2020 OLC opinion and clear the way for the National Archivist to certify the ERA. In solidarity,
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