BY CARRIE N. BAKER and ROXY SZAL | On Wednesday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case of Illinois v. Ferriero—a lawsuit brought against the national archivist to compel him to publish the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit was brought by two of the three final states to ratify the ERA: Nevada and Illinois. (The lawsuit was originally joined by Virginia, but the state dropped out earlier this year after Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares was elected; Miyares is opposed to the ERA.)
Immediately following the oral arguments, ERA advocates held a press conference and a rally outside the court.
“We are hopeful that this will result in the certification of the ERA,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), co-sponsor of H.J. Res. 28, the Equal Rights Amendment. “It is alarming to me that our Constitution does not have a provision to protect gender equality when 85 percent of U.N. member states have gender provisions in their constitutions.”
“Fifty-two years ago, Shirley Chisholm stood on the House floor in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, and here we are today, still fighting for the same rights,” said Rep. Brenda L. Lawrence (D-Mich), co-chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus. “Since our country’s founding, women have been intentionally left out of the Constitution. As a result, they were treated as second-class citizens and had to abide by laws for which they had no voice or representation. We need the ERA to ensure that the rights of women and girls will not be rolled back by any political trend, but instead, be preserved as basic rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution.”
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