Washington, D.C. – This week, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel announced an important opinion on the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), declaring the ratification expired and no longer pending in the States for action. In a Memorandum for the General Counsel of the National Archives and Records Administration, DOJ declares dead any effort by Virginia to become the “38th” state as the new Democrat-controlled legislature pledged in its opening session. It also overrules congressional efforts to revive the ERA ratification by removing the deadline as proposed in legislation pending on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America (CWA), had this to say in response to DOJ’s opinion:
“The Justice Department has hammered a nail in the coffin of state and congressional efforts to resurrect the age-old Equal Rights Amendment. DOJ’s opinion declaring the ratification dead underscores what even Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has already concluded: if the ERA has any future, the process must start over.
“Concerned Women for America says, “R.I.P ERA.” Women deserve fairness and equality under the law, but Congress should not waste its time on an ERA that could in fact undermine the progress we’ve made over the last 40 years. If legislators are truly concerned about women, they should spend their efforts focusing on measures to uphold the dignity and status of women as uniquely female, not turn back the clock on gains we’ve made and ERAse women.”
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See some of CWA staff’s recent tireless efforts nationally and in local areas combatting the ERA:
WUSA9 News Story featuring Virginia State Director Toni DeLancey
Press Release from Virginia’s CWA State Director Toni DeLancey on DOJ’s Ruling on the ERA.
Press Conference featuring Virginia’s CWA State Director (Begins at 21 minutes and 45 seconds)