WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Friday that the Equal Rights Amendment should be considered a ratified addition to the U.S. Constitution, making a symbolic statement that is unlikely to change the decades-long push for gender equality.
“It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people,” Biden said. “In keeping with my oath and duty to the Constitution and country, I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: The 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of gender.”
The Democrat’s announcement, which comes just days before he is replaced by Republican Donald Trump, is unlikely to have any impact. Presidents play no role in the amendment process. The head of the National Archives has already said that the amendment cannot be certified because it was not ratified before the deadline set by Congress.
On Friday, the National Archives reiterated its position, saying that “the fundamental legal and procedural issues have not changed.”
A senior Biden administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the White House plans, said Biden did not instruct the archivist to certify the amendment, thereby avoiding a legal dispute over the separation of powers.
Late in the morning, a rally was planned in front of the National Archives, attended by members of Congress.
The Equal Rights Amendment, which would have prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex, was sent to the states for ratification in 1972. Congress set a 1979 deadline for three-quarters of state legislatures to ratify the amendment and then extended it until 1982.
But it wasn’t until 2020, when Virginia lawmakers passed the amendment, that 38 states ratified it. The archivist said Congress or the courts would have to change the deadline to have the amendment certified.
