01/30/2020

Three Attorneys General Sue to Amend U.S. Constitution

The suit is the first legal response by liberal-leaning states to force ERA's passage

Three attorneys general of states that recently ratified the Equal Rights Amendment are suing to have the amendment added to the Constitution, challenging a Justice Department opinion that the deadline for passage expired decades ago.

In a complaint filed today, the attorneys general of Virginia, Illinois and Nevada are asking the US District Court in Washington, DC, to force the archivist of the United States, who administers the ratification process, to "carry out his statutory duty of recognizing the complete and final adoption" of the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. The ERA would ban discrimination on the basis of sex and guarantee equality for women under the Constitution.

"Unfortunately, the forces that have tried to deny women equal protection under the law for centuries have not yet been fully vanquished," Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said in a conference call with reporters. "But this movement and the women in America have shown time and again, if you throw up roadblocks, they'll go over them, they'll go around them, they'll go straight through them."

Please select this link to read the complete article from CNN.