New York Times: “Of all the things that Virginia may pass now that Democrats have won control of the state legislature, none have been so long in the making as the Equal Rights Amendment.”
“First proposed almost a century ago and passed by Congress in 1972, the constitutional amendment — whose main clause reads, ‘Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex’ — was ratified by only 35 of the necessary 38 states before a 1982 deadline.”
“Nearly four decades later, in 2017, Nevada became the 36th. In 2018, Illinois was the 37th. Now, Virginia’s incoming Democratic leaders have promised to take up the amendment immediately when the legislature convenes in January — and given that it failed in the Virginia Senate by only one vote when the body was under Republican control, passage is almost assured.”
“The biggest question now is whether Congress will remove the deadline — or whether the deadline was ever enforceable to begin with.”
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