The Fight Isn’t Over
By Tejas Muthusamy & Felix Hedberg.
Like many fellow Virginian ERA-advocates, January 15th, 2020, seemed to be a culmination of everything we had been working for. The Equal Rights Amendment had just been ratified by the Virginia State legislature, and as a result, had reached the thirty-eight state requirement needed to become an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I, like a vast majority of Americans, thought the process was over. After all, since the ERA had reached the requirements set for it, shouldn’t it automatically become part of the Constitution? Unfortunately, I was wrong. It turns out that, when the ERA was passed through Congress in 1972, it came automatically with a seven-year ratification deadline. In other words, for the ERA to truly become part of the U.S. Constitution, it needed to be ratified by three-fourths of states (or around 38) by 1979. Unfortunately, only 35 states’ legislatures voted in favor of the amendment prior to 1979. The three states that followed (Nevada, Illinois, and, finally, Virginia) were too late, according to some. This provides the first challenge to the E.R.A: whether it can still be added to the Constitution despite the fact that it may have been ratified “too late.” Although there are numerous legal and judicial challenges in order to extend the ratification deadline, none of these have passed yet.
Even if the first challenge is surmounted in our courts or in the legislatures, a second obstacle still remains. Five states — Nebraska, Tennessee, Idaho, Kentucky, South Dakota — rescinded their previous ratification of the ERA. This means that their state legislatures voted against the ERA after previously voting for it. Though it seems relatively simple, that the number of ratified states would decrease to 33, Article V of the Constitution (which spells out the amendment process) says nothing concerning whether states can actually rescind their ratification. As a result, this remains in the balance as well.
So where does Generation Ratify Virginia come in? Though the work within the Virginia state legislature may be over for now, the future of the ERA is nowhere near certain. In terms of advocacy, there are two fronts on which Generation Ratify VA will fight. First, on the federal level, it is critical that Virginia continues to elect representatives that will vote for an extension for the ERA, especially because a large part of the future of ERA remains within Congress. Second, if, like some people believe, the ERA will be forced to start over and return to state legislatures, it is critical that we keep the number of pro-ERA Virginia state legislators in office. Another important part of our mission is education. Across the state, there are numerous well-meaning advocates who may be misinformed about the ERA. We feel it is our duty to correct misconceptions about this critical piece of legislation and ensure that everyone in our state knows that the fight isn’t over!