President Biden reportedly claimed, falsely, that the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which forbids sex-based discrimination, constitutes a part of the Constitution, contending on Friday that it has fulfilled the requirements for inclusion as the 28th Amendment.
Biden stated that the ERA “is the law of the land” due to its passage by a two-thirds majority in Congress and ratification by three-quarters of the states.
However, he refrained from directing the archivist to incorporate the modification into the Constitution, rendering the implications of the outgoing president’s statement ambiguous and potentially provoking legal disputes.
A senior administration official stated that Biden would not instruct the archivist to incorporate it into the Constitution.
Congress ratified the ERA in 1972. The legislative vote included a seven-year deadline for states to endorse the bill as a constitutional amendment; nevertheless, it was not until 2020 that Virginia became the 38th state to ratify it.
The protracted delay spanning decades is expected to be a focal point in any legal contest from adversaries, despite the Constitution’s lack of reference to a timetable for states to approve an amendment.
President Biden is trying to force radical gender ideology into our Constitution on his way out the door.
This is as delusional as it is illegal. Just saying something doesn’t make it so. The deadline to ratify the radical Equal Rights Amendment came and went in 1979.
Since… https://t.co/7WO8GwmyVh
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) January 17, 2025
In January 2020, the Justice Department of the first Trump administration said that no measures should be undertaken to incorporate the ERA into the Constitution, referencing the expired deadline.
Biden’s declaration occurs shortly before his departure from office, as President-elect Trump prepares for a second term.
Democratic legislators and advocates have persistently asked Biden to act on the amendment before to his departure from office.
Over 120 House Democrats, spearheaded by former Rep. Cori Bush (Mo.) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), authored a letter to the president in December urging him to acknowledge it as a constitutional amendment.
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