WASHINGTON (AP) — In a uncommon joint assertion, the archivist and deputy archivist of the US mentioned Tuesday that the Seventies-era Equal Rights Modification can’t be licensed with out additional motion by Congress or the courts, as Democrats press President Joe Biden to behave unilaterally on its ratification earlier than he leaves workplace subsequent month.
The five-decade push to amend the Structure to ban discrimination primarily based on intercourse stays stalled. Congress despatched the modification, which ensures women and men equal rights underneath the regulation, to the states in 1972 and gave states seven years to ratify it, later extending the deadline to 1982. However the modification wasn’t ratified by the required three-quarters of states earlier than the deadline.
4 years in the past, nonetheless, Virginia lawmakers voted to ratify the modification, changing into the thirty eighth and last state wanted — albeit practically 4 a long time after the congressionally mandated deadline for ratification.
Greater than 120 Home Democrats, led by Reps. Cori Bush and Ayanna Pressley, referred to as on Biden on Sunday to direct the archivist to certify and publish the modification regardless of the missed deadline.
“Solidifying your legacy on equal rights with a final action on the ERA would be a defining moment for the historic Biden-Harris administration and your presidency,” they wrote to Biden.
However the archivist, Colleen Shogan, and her deputy, William J. Bosanko, who’re chargeable for certifying and publishing new amendments as soon as they meet the required ratification threshold, say neither they nor Biden can act with out Congress or the courts lifting the deadline.
“In 2020 and again in 2022, the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice affirmed that the ratification deadline established by Congress for the ERA is valid and enforceable,” they mentioned in a joint assertion. “The OLC concluded that extending or removing the deadline requires new action by Congress or the courts. Court decisions at both the District and Circuit levels have affirmed that the ratification deadlines established by Congress for the ERA are valid.”
They added: “Therefore, the Archivist of the United States cannot legally publish the Equal Rights Amendment. As the leaders of the National Archives, we will abide by these legal precedents and support the constitutional framework in which we operate.”
Congress tried final 12 months within the newest push to elevate the deadline to permit for the modification’s ratification, however the measure didn’t attain the required 60-vote threshold within the Senate.