John,

2022 will be the most consequential year for the Equal Rights Amendment. We are working tirelessly in support of the ERA and are in a critical battle to enshrine the amendment in the United States Constitution.

On January 27, 2020, Virginia became the 38th and final state needed to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. With the ratification by the required three-fourths of the states and approval of two-thirds of Congress in 1972 — the only two requirements for amending the Constitution have been met. We are urging the National Archivist to certify and publish the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution.

But, the Trump Administration’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) had issued a memorandum in January 2020 in advance of Virginia’s vote to ratify, stating that the certification process should not proceed.

We have been working diligently on this final step to get the Archivist to certify and publish the ERA in the Constitution. As of this writing, we now have 189 constitutional experts saying that it has already passed, and that the archivist is required to certify and publish the amendment. Additionally, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, which has jurisdiction over the archivist, has formally stated that the ERA should be certified and published. A Columbia Law School ERA Project analysis has also found that the Trump OLC opinion “sought to advance a policy preference against the ERA,” and is “lacking a thoroughly reasoned understanding of precedent and Congressional power under the Constitution,” and should thus be withdrawn.

Stand with us!

Now, more than ever, we need the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution. The ERA gives the federal government the right to pass legislation to stop right-wing anti-equality legislation at the state level. In light of the massive and outrageous attack on the right to have an abortion and the possibility of reversing Roe v. Wade, we need the ERA more than ever.

Contribute to support our work in support of the Equal Rights Amendment campaign today. With your support, we will never go back, and we will never give up — we are SO close!

For Equality,

Kathy Spillar Executive Director