Biden says Equal Rights Amendment is ratified, kicking off expected legal battle

[Wiz Imp]

48. There is nothing in the Constitution saying there can be a deadline for ratification

so proponents of the ERA like Biden will argue that the deadline itself was unconstitutional.

In February 2024, the American Bar Association (ABA) passed resolution 601, supporting implementation of the ERA. The ABA urges implementation because a deadline for ratification of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution is not consistent with Article V of the Constitution and that under Article V, states are not permitted to rescind prior ratifications.

The rescission of a prior ratification of a Constitutional amendment has occurred previously for the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. For each, states voted to rescind their ratifications, similar to the case for the ERA. Regardless, these states were counted when the federal government tallied the total states that had ratified the Amendment, thus declaring that it was officially part of the Constitution.

Researchers at Columbia Law School point out that "[t]he Constitution says nothing about whether a state can rescind or revoke its ratification of a Constitutional Amendment, either before the ratification process has been completed or after." Advocates and scholars dispute whether ratification is a one-time event, once done it cannot be undone as the Constitution only provides for ratification, not unratification.

I would expect the current Supreme Court to not uphold Biden's declaration, but there is a very strong legal argument in Biden's favor and he did the right thing.

For people to inject negativity into this is ridiculous. Biden's action should be celebrated even if it doesn't hold.