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![handle is hein.sag/sagva0148 and id is 1 raw text is: COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA
Office of the Attorney General
Mark R. Herring 202 North Ninth Street
Attorney General Richmond, Virginia 23219
January 6, 2022 Fax 8 191
Virginia Relay Services
'-1-I
The Honorable Mamie E. Locke
Member, Senate of Virginia
Post Office Box 9048
Hampton, Virginia 23670
Dear Senator Locke:
I am responding to your request for an official advisory opinion in accordance with § 2.2-505 of
the Code of Virginia.
Issue Presented
You have requested an opinion as to whether Virginia may rescind its 2020 ratification of the Equal
Rights Amendment.
Applicable Law and Discussion
Article V of the United States Constitution states:
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose
amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of
the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case,
shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the
legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof,
as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided
that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and
eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first
article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the
Senate.0]
In March 1972, after strong, bipartisan approval by the House and Senate, the Congress of the
United States, pursuant to the power conferred in Article V, formally proposed the Equal Rights
1 U.S. CONST., art. V.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagva0148&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)