U.S. House Judiciary Committee Approves Unconstitutional Measure to Resurrect Dead Equal Rights Amendment

1978 ERA Demonstration
Credit: Cornell University / Flickr

In a 21-11 party-line vote, the House Judiciary Committee voted to approve a measure that would resurrect the Equal Rights Amendment, which the Supreme Court recognized as dead in 1982, and retroactively erase the seven-year deadline for States to ratify it. If the Equal Rights Amendment was added as written to the U.S. Constitution, any federal or state law that restricted abortion or how it was funded would be seen as discriminatory and unconstitutional.

National Right to Life Senior Policy Advisor Douglas Johnson stated, “In 1983, the House Democratic leadership, also recognizing that the old ERA was dead, attempted to start over — but the full House voted down the ERA on November 15, 1983. For those who desire an ERA, the only constitutional path is to start over — which would allow Congress to consider revisions to the ERA language.”

Rep. Jacki Speier (D-Ca.), told the New York Times she thought a vote of the full House was likely “before the end of the year.”

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