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“Equal Rights Amendment”
Related Press Room News Posts
Federal Judges Scorn ERA-revival Legal Claims
NRLC letter to U.S. Senate urges Nay vote on unconstitutional ERA-revival measure
Media Advisory: Ignoring Federal Court Rulings, Rep. Cori Bush and Allies Dust Off the Long-Expired “Equal Rights Amendment” as a Political Prop
MEDIA ADVISORY: Ignoring Federal Courts, Senate Democrats Launch a Political Show Starring The Long-Expired “Equal Rights Amendment”
NRLC letter to the U.S. Senate opposing Sen. Cardin’s measure (S.J. Res. 4) purporting to make the ERA part of the U.S. Constitution
NRLC urges opposition to Pressley’s unconstitutional ERA shortcut (H.J.Res. 25)
MEDIA ADVISORY: THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT RETURNS TO THE STAGE
NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE COMMITTEE COMMENTS ON TODAY’S NEW SETBACKS FOR THE ERA-REVIVAL MOVEMENT
MEDIA ADVISORY: Washington Post’s Fact Checker slams ERA misinformation / activists target Archivist
MEDIA ADVISORY— REALITY CHECK ON THE E.R.A.
ERA-resuscitation groups pressure Executive Branch officials to ignore judicial rulings and pretend that the Equal Rights Amendment has been ratified
MEDIA ADVISORY: U.S. House Oversight Committee to Hold ERA Hearing October 21, While Democrat-Appointed Judges Extend Unbroken 40-Year Losing Streak for ERA-Resuscitation Legal Claims. ERA-Abortion Link, Once Denied, Is Now Openly Proclaimed by ERA Backers.
ERA Supporters Hold August 26 Rally at U.S. Supreme Court, But Sharply Disagree on Legal Theories and Political Strategy; “Deadline Removal” Measure Dead in Water in U.S. Senate; Democrat-Appointed Judges Extend Unbroken 40-Year Losing Streak for ERA-Resuscitation Legal Claims
Federal Appeals Court Unanimously Upholds Dismissal of Lawsuit Claiming Equal Rights Amendment Was Ratified; Extends Unbroken 40-Year Losing Streak For ERA-Resuscitation Legal Claims
Appeal of D.C. Federal Judge’s ERA-Expired Ruling Likely to Extend an Unbroken 40-Year Losing Streak For ERA-Resuscitation Legal Claims
Equal Rights Amendment: North Dakota Legislature Approves “Count Us Out” Resolution, Formally Notifying Federal Authorities That the State’s 1975 Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment Expired in 1979
House Passes ERA measure 222-204, “ERA’s Poorest Showing in 50 Years,” 62 Votes Below Real-Life 2/3 Requirement; Democrats Pursue Political Theater in Face of 40 Years of Judicial Rebukes
MEDIA ADVISORY: U.S. House of Representatives acts on a resolution purportedly reviving pro-abortion Equal Rights Amendment, as advocates and most media downplay long string of court defeats
NRLC to U.S. House members urging opposition to H.J. Res. 17, purporting to ratify Equal Rights Amendment
Federal District Judge Contreras, Obama Appointee, Rules That the Ratification Deadline for the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment Was Valid; Rejects the 2017-2020 “Ratifications” by Virginia, Nevada, and Illinois
National Right to Life letter to U.S. Senate, opposing S.J. Res. 1, a resolution purporting to “remove” the ratification deadline in the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment resolution
NRLC memo to Virginia General Assembly, in opposition to resolutions purporting to ratify the 1972 federal ERA
Planned Parenthood, Women’s Law Project file lawsuit arguing Equal Rights Amendment invalidates abortion limitations
Related Special Reports
Special Report On The “Equal Rights Amendment”
ERA activist-attorney Kate Kelly advises members of the legal community to simply repeat that the ERA is already the 28th Amendment to the Constitution, during Washington & Lee University School of Law Gass Symposium
Audio of exchange between Judge Wilkins and Harrington
Graphic of exchange between Judge Wilkins and Harrington
In testimony before Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, Archivist-nominee Dr. Colleen Shogan implictly rejects the pressure campaign demanding that she unilaterally certify the ERA as part of the Constitution
“Activists Seek to End-Run Federal Courts on ERA Revival,” by Douglas Johnson, Director, ERA Project, National Right to Life Committee. —The New York Sun
Retiring Archivist David Ferriero on C-SPAN, “I can tell you that Ruth Bader Ginsburg twice told me, in this building, we need to start over [on the Equal Rights Amendment]…the time limit has expired…”
Brief submitted to U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by Intervenor anti-ERA states (Alabama, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Tennessee), in the case of Illinois v. Ferriero (previously named Virginia v. Ferriero)
Special Report On The Equal Rights Amendment
Letter from Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, urging President Biden and Vice President Harris to “rescind” a 2020 legal opinion by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, asserting that the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment had long since expired and could not be revived.
U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Reform, ERA hearing (Oct. 21, 2021): Video clip of ERA backers Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Virginia state Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D), and Georgetown Law Prof. Victoria Nourse agreeing that the ERA would create federal constitutional abortion rights, protect Roe v. Wade
Letter from Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, to the Archivist of the U.S., urging him to “publish the ERA without further delay”
“The Equal Rights Amendment and Abortion.” A compilation of dozens of footnoted quotations from pro-abortion groups such as NARAL, NOW, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU, and other sources, recognizing that the ERA would be employed in legal attacks on pro-life laws of all kinds.
Columbia Law School ERA Project urges Pennsylvania Supreme Court to strike down state ban on funding elective abortions, as a violation of the Pennsylvania Equal Rights Amendment
Planned Parenthood and Women’s Law Project urge Pennsylvania Supreme Court to strike down state ban on funding of elective abortions, based on Pennsylvania ERA
North Dakota legislature’s Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4010, approved March 19, 2021, stating that North Dakota’s 1975 ERA ratification “officially lapsed” on March 22, 1979, and “should not be counted by Congress, the Archivist of the United States…[or] any court of law…”
NRLC bar graph showing how support for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives, measured by affirmative votes on ERA measures, has dropped from 354 votes in 1971 to only 222 votes in March, 2021 (i.e., from well above two-thirds, to barely above a majority)
NRLC line graph showing how support for the Equal Rights Amendment in the U.S. House of Representatives has fallen steeply over a 50-year period, from a high of 94% of voting House members in 1971, to only 52% on the House roll call of March 17, 2021
Ruling by federal Judge Rudolph Contreras (Obama appointee), U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in Virginia v. Ferriero, a lawsuit filed by Virginia, Nevada, and Illinois, seeking to force the Archivist of the U.S. to certify the ERA as part of the U.S. Constitution.
Memo from National Right to Life and Florida Right to Life to Florida Legislature, opposing measures that purport to ratify the 1972 federal Equal Rights Amendment
Memo from National Right to Life and North Carolina Right to Life to North Carolina General Assembly, opposing measures that purport to ratify the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment
Memo from National Right to Life and Georgia Life Alliance to Georgia General Assembly, opposing H.R. 80, a measure purporting to ratify the 1972 federal Equal Rights Amendment
Memo from National Right to Life to members of the Utah State Senate and House of Representatives, opposing SJR 8, a measure purporting to ratify the 1972 federal Equal Rights Amendment
Memo from National Right to Life to Arizona State Legislature, opposing measures that purport to ratify the 1972 federal Equal Rights Amendment
Memo from National Right to Life and Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, opposing measures urging Congress to adopt resolutions that purport to retroactively remove the ratification deadline from the 1972 federal Equal Rights Amendment
Memo from National Right to Life and Alabama Citizens for Life to Alabama Legislature, opposing HJR 35, a measure purporting to ratify the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment
ERA List of State Ratification Actions (Updated as of March 24, 2020)
Statement by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg regarding the ERA, Feb. 10, 2020 (“Virginia, long after the deadline passed,” “how can you disregard states that said, ‘we’ve changed our minds’?”, etc.)
Washington Post Fact Checker: “The ERA and the U.S. Archivist: Anatomy of a False Claim,” by Glenn Kessler — February 9, 2022. The Fact Checker awards “Four Pinocchios” (“Whopper”) to congressional pro-ERA leader Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) for her misleading claims about the status of the ERA and the powers of the Archivist.
Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel, issues legal opinion that the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment expired March 22, 1979, and that no later Congress has power to alter that deadline or revive the 1972 proposal
Quotation from Emily Matson, general counsel for the pro-ERA National Women’s Law Center, AP, Jan. 1, 2020
Statement by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg regarding the ERA, Sept. 12, 2019 (“I hope someday it will be put back in the political hopper, and we’ll be starting over again,” etc.)
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) testifies, “The Equal Rights Amendment has absolutely nothing to do with abortion.”
Letter from Prof. Michael S. Paulsen, constitutional scholar, explaining why Congress lacks power to retroactively revive the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment
NRLC & Louisiana Right to Life memo to Louisiana legislature, in opposition to resolutions purporting to ratify the 1972 federal ERA
Image of national email alert from NARAL Pro-Choice America, March 13, 2019, asserting that “the ERA would reinforce the constitutional right to abortion . . . [it] would require judges to strike down anti-abortion laws . . .”
NRLC memo to South Carolina General Assembly, in opposition to resolutions purporting to ratify the 1972 federal ERA
Image from Women’s Law Project press release, January 16, 2019, announcing lawsuit that argues that Pennsylvania’s ban on government funding of elective abortion “violates the Pennsylvania Constitution’s Equal Rights Amendment”
Lawsuit filed by Women’s Law Project and Planned Parenthood, arguing that Pennsylvania Equal Rights Amendment invalidates limits on abortion
Additional Resources
NRLC memo to Illinois General Assembly, in opposition to resolution purporting to ratify the 1972 federal ERA — April 26, 2018
To view or download PDF version, click here.
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) announced the reintroduction of the proposed federal ERA in the U.S. House of Representatives at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol on July 21, 2009. Read the flyer that a group of ERA supporters associated with the competing “three-state” strategy handed out at that press conference (“This is not the time to start over . . .”) [PDF]
New Federal ERA Introduced in Congress – March 30, 2007
NRL News: ‘three-state strategy’ to revive pro-abortion 1972 federal ERA turned back in Arkansas [PDF] – March, 2007
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “The ERA and Abortion: Not So Simple.” Op-Ed by NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson – April 4, 2000
NRL News: New Mexico Supreme Court Ruling the ERA Requires Taxpayer-Funded Abortions — November 25, 1998
Read the text of the New Mexico Supreme Court ERA-Abortion decision (1998) [PDF]
“Night of the Living Dead Amendment.” George F. Will dissects the “three-state” theory promoted by some ERA supporters [PDF] – February 13, 1994
American Politics Magazine: “Aborting the ERA,” by NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson [PDF] – May, 1987
Catholic Bishops oppose federal ERA unless it is amended [PDF] – April 26, 1984
NRL News: U. S. House of Representatives rejects attempt to revive unamended federal ERA [PDF] – September 24, 1983
Some people think that the federal ERA proposed in 1972 can be resurrected by state legislatures (the so-called “three-state strategy”), or by Congress. However, in 1982 the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that the federal ERA sent to the state legislatures by Congress in 1972 was legally dead. Read the Supreme Court’s order, as well as a memo from the Acting Solicitor General of the United States on which the order was based. [PDF]
The complete ERA Resolution as approved by the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate during the 92nd Congress, 1971-1972, submitted to the states on March 22, 1972, with a 7-year ratification deadline in the Proposing Clause. [PDF] [.JPG files are here and here]