The House passed a resolution Wednesday to remove the deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment — just weeks after a federal judge ruled that time had already run out for the measure.
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said the passage of her joint resolution by a vote of 222-204 made it clear “there can be no expiration date on equality.”
A companion joint resolution in the Senate which was introduced by Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Ben Cardin, D-Md., faces a steeper climb, where at least 10 Republicans will need need to join all 50 Democrats to pass. Only four Republicans voted for the measure in the House, including Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., Speier’s co-sponsor.
The amendment holds that, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
Virginia became the 38th state to sign off on the amendment in January 2020 — which was the number of states needed to officially make it the 28th Amendment. Opponents of the measure, which was introduced in 1972, said the window to ratify the amendment closed almost 40 years ago, citing a seven-year time limit on ratification in the preamble to the amendment. That deadline was later increased by three years — meaning it expired in 1982.
While the Constitution doesn’t put a time limit on states ratifying an amendment — the 27th Amendment took more than 200 years to become a reality — Judge Rudolph Contreras of the federal district court in Washington, D.C. ruled earlier this month that the deadline set in the introduction of the ERA “is just as effective as one in the text of a proposed amendment.”
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has said he’s weighing his legal options, including an appeal of Contreras’s order.
March 17, 202101:46
The ERA vote was one of two scheduled in the House on Wednesday in honor of Women’s History Month.
The House also voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, which expired in 2019. That vote came a day after a mass shooting in Atlanta targeted Asian-American women working at spas.
The original measure, which was aimed at helping to stop domestic abuse, violence and sexual harassment against women and girls and provide resources to victims and survivors, was championed by then-Sen. Joe Biden.
The House voted to reauthorize the act in 2019, but it stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate amid complaints from the National Rifle Association about an attempt to close the so-called “boyfriend loophole” by prohibiting gun purchases by those convicted of stalking or abusing individuals with whom they have been in a relationship. Previous prohibitions only covered married couples.
The current version of the bill still includes the attempt to close the loophole. The bill passed by a vote of 244 to 172, with 29 Republicans voting in favor.
Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., complained on the House floor before the vote that, “Democrats are using domestic violence, which is a serious issue, as a front for just their latest gun control bill.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the need for the legislation is urgent.
“One in three women today face domestic abuse,” Pelosi said. “And partner violence is on the rise during the pandemic as many women are forced to quarantine in homes that are not safe.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
