House Ignores ERA Deadline So It Can Be Deemed Ratified. What Now?
In a move that ignores both logic and basic reading comprehension skills, the House of Representatives passed a resolution Thursday to pretend that the 1982 deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment never existed. The 232 to 183 vote was almost completely along partisan lines. The only exceptions were five GOP House members who sided with Democrats on the vote.
The zombie ERA has become an issue in recent weeks due to Virginia’s becoming the 38th state to ratify the ERA in January, and 38 (three-fourths of the 50 states) ratifications are needed for an amendment to become part of the Constitution. However, not only did the ratification deadline expire decades ago, but four states rescinded their previous ratifications. In order to achieve the 38-state threshold, ERA advocates want to count states that ratified the ERA after the deadline, while not counting states that withdrew their...
