The House approved legislation on Wednesday that would revive the Equal Rights Amendment by repealing the 1982 deadline imposed on states to ratify it.
The bill passed 222-204 with four GOP votes but faces an uncertain fate in the Senate, where Republicans can block legislation due to the 60-vote threshold.
The House vote comes more than a month after a federal court ruled that the deadline to ratify the amendment has long expired, which means the process of getting the necessary ratification from 38 states would have to start over. The House bill would remove the deadline, but if it is passed into law, it would likely face legal challenges.
DEMOCRATS TRY TO REVIVE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT DESPITE RECENT LEGAL HURDLES
Rep. Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, argued ratification of the ERA “is long overdue” and said it would enshrine in the Constitution “that no one can be denied equal protection on the basis of sex.”
The measure passed the Democratic-controlled House last year, but it was ignored by the GOP-led Senate. The Senate is now controlled by Democrats, and they are expected to bring up the bill.
Republicans opposed the measure, arguing it is unconstitutional. Republicans said the ERA could also end anti-abortion laws, including those prohibiting taxpayer-funded and late-term abortions.
“Many now agree that the ERA as written will massively promote abortion,” Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, said, “and require judges to strike down anti-abortion laws.”
The amendment was first introduced nearly a century ago but did not gain traction until the 92nd Congress in 1972 when it cleared both chambers with the required two-thirds supermajority.
The amendment states, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
Congress imposed a seven-year deadline for the required 38 states to ratify it. That deadline was eventually extended to 1982, but the amendment failed to win ratification in the states, falling short by three states.
In the time since the deadline passed, five states have withdrawn their support for the amendment, while three others, Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia, have voted to ratify it.
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The Democrat-led Virginia General Assembly ratified the amendment on Jan. 15, 2020.
Proponents of the amendment have ignored the five states that withdrew support and pronounced Virginia to be the 38th state, the final one required to ratify the amendment.
Sens. Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, and Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said they are working on gathering enough votes to pass the measure in the Senate.
