{"id":27370,"date":"2023-07-14T22:33:40","date_gmt":"2023-07-15T05:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=27370"},"modified":"2023-07-14T22:33:42","modified_gmt":"2023-07-15T05:33:42","slug":"democrats-try-a-novel-tactic-to-revive-the-equal-rights-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/07\/14\/democrats-try-a-novel-tactic-to-revive-the-equal-rights-amendment\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats Try a Novel Tactic to Revive the Equal Rights Amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Proponents of the measure to enshrine a guarantee of sex equality into the Constitution are using a creative legal theory to try to resurrect the long-stalled amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Senator
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Cori Bush are set to introduce a joint resolution stating that the Equal Rights Amendment has already been ratified.Credit…Kenny Holston\/The New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Annie<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Annie Karni<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reporting from Capitol Hill<\/p>\n\n\n\n

July 13, 2023 (NYTimes.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats in Congress are making a fresh push for the nearly century-old Equal Rights Amendment to be enshrined in the Constitution, rallying around a creative legal theory in a bid to revive an amendment that would explicitly guarantee sex equality as a way to protect reproductive rights in post-Roe America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Representative Cori Bush of Missouri introduced a joint resolution on Thursday stating that the measure has already been ratified and is enforceable as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. The resolution states that the national archivist, who is responsible for the certification and publication of constitutional amendments, must immediately do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a novel tactic for pursuing a measure that was first proposed in Congress 100 years ago and was approved by Congress about 50 years later but not ratified in time to be added to the Constitution. Proponents say the amendment has taken on new significance after the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling last year in Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization that overturned the abortion rights long guaranteed by Roe v. Wade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn light of Dobbs, we\u2019re seeing vast discrimination across the country,\u201d Ms. Gillibrand said in an interview. \u201cWomen are being treated as second-class citizens. This is more timely than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While almost 80 percent of Americans supported<\/a> adding the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution in a 2020 Pew Research Center poll, there is little chance that the effort will draw the 60 votes necessary to overcome a Republican filibuster in the Senate. But the Democrats\u2019 push is their latest effort to spotlight G.O.P. opposition to social policy measures with broad voter approval, and to call attention to the party\u2019s hostility to abortion rights, which hurt Republicans in the midterm elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a political rather than a legal struggle,\u201d said Laurence Tribe, the constitutional scholar and professor emeritus at Harvard Law School. \u201cIt would succeed only in a different environment than we have. It\u2019s not going to pass. The real question is what political message is being sent. In a political environment like this, you throw at the wall whatever you can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is Democrats\u2019 second attempt this year to advance the Equal Rights Amendment; in April, Senate Republicans blocked a similar resolution that sought to remove an expired deadline for states to ratify the amendment. Only two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, voted for the resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Proponents say the amendment has taken on new significance after the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling last year, which overturned the constitutional right to abortion.\u00a0Credit…Anna Rose Layden for The New York Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now, Ms. Gillibrand and Ms. Bush are trying a different approach: They are simply ignoring the issue of the expired ratification deadline altogether and introducing a resolution that argues that the E.R.A. is already the law of the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is an opportunity to start fresh with a legitimate legal theory that has basis in constitutional law,\u201d Ms. Gillibrand said, noting that the reference to the deadline was in the preamble, not the text of the amendment itself. \u201cI believe President Biden can just do this. I\u2019m going to make the legal and political argument over the next several months that this is something he can do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n