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![handle is hein.crs/govefpv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional ______
Research Service
The Equal Rights Amendment: Recent
Developments
April 25, 2022
In February 2022, the Commonwealth of Virginia filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) seeking to withdraw the state from a lawsuit challenging the
Archivist of the United States' refusal to publish and certify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) as part
of the U.S. Constitution. First presented to the states in 1972, the ERA would amend the Constitution and
provide that [e]quality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any
State on account of sex. This Legal Sidebar provides a brief background on the ERA and the ratification
process for constitutional amendments. The Sidebar also reviews Virginia v. Ferriero, the case
challenging the Archivist's refusal. In March 2021, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
dismissed the case, holding that Virginia, Nevada, and Illinois lacked standing to challenge the Archivist's
decision. While all three states filed an appeal in May 2021, the case will now proceed without Virginia's
involvement after the D.C. Circuit granted Virginia's request to withdraw from the case.
Background
The power to amend the Constitution is established in Article V. Article V empowers Congress to propose
an amendment when two-thirds of both chambers deem it necessary or on the application of two-thirds of
the state legislatures to call a convention for proposing an amendment. A proposed amendment becomes
part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states or by conventions in
three-fourths of the states. Following ratification by three-fourths of the states, the Archivist of the United
States, pursuant to 1 U.S.C. § 106b, is to identify the ratifying states, publish the amendment, and certify
that the amendment has become part of the Constitution.
While Article V provides for the proposal and ratification of constitutional amendments, it is silent
regarding other procedural matters, such as any time limitations for ratifying such amendments. The
House and Senate passed H. J. Res. 208, which first proposed the ERA, in 1972 during the 92nd
Congress. In its proposing clause, H. J. Res. 208 provided that, for the ERA to be adopted, three-fourths
of the states would have to ratify the amendment within seven years from the date of its submission by
the Congress. In accordance with this provision, the ratification deadline became March 22, 1979, seven
years after the Senate approved H. J. Res. 208.
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports. congress.gov
LSB10731
CRS Legal Sidebar
Prepared for Members and
Committees of Congress](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govefpv0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)