The Most Absurd "Solution" to America's Assault on Women

[marmar]

The Most Absurd “Solution” to America’s Assault on Women
Even if the Equal Rights Amendment were somehow ratified today, this Supreme Court wouldn’t care.

BY SUSAN MATTHEWS AND MARK JOSEPH STERN
SEPT 30, 20225:45 AM


(Slate) In 1972, Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment by a two-thirds vote and gave the states until 1979 to approve it. They failed to do so. This month, however, proponents of the ERA are fighting to revive the amendment on multiple fronts. On Wednesday, a federal appeals court heard arguments in a case designed to make the United States archivist “publish” and “certify” the amendment. One week earlier, senators pressed Colleen Shogan—President Joe Biden’s nominee to replace the current archivist—on whether she would declare the ERA to be legitimately ratified.

This flurry of activity 50 years after initial congressional passage is just the latest twist in the unnervingly long road the ERA has taken on its path attempting to become the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. If it makes it, it would guarantee equal rights for all citizens regardless of sex. The people pushing for it think they have a case because three states approved the ERA long after the initial deadline—Nevada in 2017, Illinois in 2018, and Virginia in 2020—and many Democrats believe it should now be part of the U.S. Constitution. Republicans counter that actually, five states withdrew their approval already, so the math doesn’t work, and add that the deadline is long past, anyway.

The entire mess has been laid at the feet of the archivist of the United States, a position Shogan will soon take over (pending confirmation), hence the lobbying. Proponents of the amendment are also upset that the Biden Administration is taking the same slightly technical position that Donald Trump’s did: The archivist cannot certify the ERA without confirmation from either a federal court or Congress. The disappointment is, on some level, understandable: Those supporting the ERA’s resuscitation argue that it is the solution to our current political horrors—that the amendment could protect a national right to abortion and contraception, enshrine LGBTQ equality (including same-sex marriage and trans rights), and justify federal legislation protecting women from domestic violence, wage discrimination, and more. Once the archivist certifies the ERA, they argue, the federal judiciary can finally implement a full guarantee of sex equality under law. That’s why they sued the last archivist for refusing to act, and it’s why they’re pressuring the next one already.

This argument has strong emotional appeal. It is also absurd. There is nothing wrong with the ERA itself; obviously a constitutional right to sex equality would be an improvement. But the campaign to revive the ERA reveals a baffling misunderstanding about the actual contours of the ongoing fight over who has legal rights in this country. It is like bringing a butter knife to a gunfight. .............(more)

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/09/equal-rights-amendment-not-the-answer-why.html

[scarletlib]

1. Realistic.

Last edited Fri Sep 30, 2022, 11:15 AM - Edit history (1)

Court feels free to ignore and misinterpret Civil Rights amendments passed in 1865. Same with the 2nd amendment. Twisted well beyond its original meaning and intent. Now working on destroying separation of church and state.

[2naSalit]

2. The plan is to...

Rewrite the Constitution, one way or another.

[scarletlib]

3. They are going to try.