Biden says Equal Rights Amendment should be considered ratified

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden announced Friday that the Equal Rights Amendment should be considered a ratified addition to the U.S. Constitution, making a symbolic statement that is unlikely to change a decades-long fight for gender equality.

“It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people,” Biden said. “In accordance with my oath and my duty to the Constitution and the country, I affirm what I believe and what three-quarters of the states have ratified: the 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans the rights and equal protections under the law, regardless of the law. of their sex. »

The Democrat’s statement, a few days before his replacement by Republican Donald Trump, will probably have no impact. Presidents have no role in the amendment process. The head of the National Archives had already declared that the amendment cannot be certified because it was not ratified before a deadline set by Congress.

On Friday, the National Archives reiterated its position, saying “the underlying legal and procedural issues have not changed.”

A senior Biden administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss White House plans, said Biden was not asking the recorder to certify the amendment, avoiding what could have become a legal battle over the separation of powers.

Activists gathered outside the National Archives to celebrate Biden’s statement and call on the archivist to take action.

“Do your job,” said Zakiya Thomas, head of the ERA Coalition. “The president did his.”

Claudia Nachega, leader of the Young Feminist Party, said certification of the Equal Rights Amendment would mark “the beginning of a new American era that gives us a chance to survive a second Trump presidency.”

The Equal Rights Amendment, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, was sent to the states for ratification in 1972. Congress set a deadline of 1979 for three-quarters of state legislatures to ratify the amendment, then extended it until 1982.

But it wasn’t until 2020, when Virginia lawmakers passed the amendment, that 38 states ratified it. The archivist said Congress or the courts must change the deadline to consider the amendment certified.