House to vote in March on joint resolution to remove ERA deadline
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Proponents of the ERA believe the court ruling signaled that it’s now up to Congress to validate their argument that the ERA has already been ratified and should be published as the Constitution’s 28th Amendment. But opponents say Congress cannot retroactively change its imposed deadline decades after it expired and blast the vote as a political stunt.
A vote this month is a symbolic step reaffirming supporters’ commitment to the ERA, which they have fought for decades to add to the Constitution, given that the House approved the same resolution last session — but also that many of the same legal questions surrounding the ERA remain unanswered.
But like so many other pieces of legislation Democrats want to prioritize, the resolution faces a tougher path forward in the Senate, where Democrats and Republicans have a 50-50 partisan split and Vice President Kamala Harris acts as the tie-breaking vote.
Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, who introduced the Senate joint resolution with Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, has projected optimism and said during a virtual town hall hosted by the ERA Coalition late last month that “this looks like the year that we can get it done.”
Cardin said that he and Murkowski were reaching out to GOP members to try to shore up support.
His spokesperson Sue Walitsky told CNN that Cardin “continues to work with leadership to find the most advantageous time for Senate consideration.”
Walitsky added that the delay in getting Biden’s Cabinet nominees confirmed in the Senate has “caused a domino effect on other priority items” and that it’s too soon to tell whether the Senate will hold a hearing on the resolution. The House had held a hearing on the ERA in April 2019.
Last Congress, the Senate resolution had 48 cosponsors, including all of the Democratic leadership, two Republicans and Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who now chairs the Senate Judiciary committee where the resolution sits. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also assigned Cardin’s resolution as Senate Joint Resolution 1 — a sign of priority.
But Cardin and Murkowski would need the support of 10 Republican senators to end a potential filibuster of the resolution. The resolution, given that it’s part of the constitutional amendment process, would not require Biden’s signature.
History of ERA’s deadline
Opponents to the ERA, like National Right to Life, say the deadline to pass the amendment expired decades ago and view the joint resolutions in Congress as unconstitutional. They say the ERA would expand access to abortion and be interpreted to nullify federal and state restrictions.
Congress originally passed the ERA in 1972 with the necessary two-thirds approval required by the Constitution. Proponents and opponents compromised by adding a seven-year deadline for states to ratify the ERA.
Under Article V of the Constitution, three-fourths of the states — or 38 states — are required to ratify constitutional amendments. Realizing the threshold would not be met by 1979, Congress extended the deadline to 1982. But by then, only 35 states had signed off on the ERA — with five of those states rescinding their support of the ERA within that time.
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