Curses, Foiled Again...

This is the text of a proposed amendment to the United
States Constitution that was approved by both Houses
of Congress:

    Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied
    or abridged by the United States or any State on
    account of sex...the Congress shall have the power
    to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions
    of this Article.

If you think you have heard about this amendment before,
you are right, it was first introduced in October of, ready
for this, 1921.  That's right folks, that's how long it has
been kicking around.  It was proposed after the 19th
amendment was ratified, that amendment gave women the
right to vote.  However, after giving women the vote, I guess
Congress didn't want them to get a swelled head.

It took fifty years, but on October 12, 1971 the Equal Rights
Amendment passed the U.S. House of Representatives and
on March 3, 1972, it passed the U.S. Senate and went to the
states for ratification.  It had one caveat, in the preamble to
the bill was the wording that the bill must be ratified by 38
of the states before March 22, 1979.  By 1977, the bill was
ratified by 35 states, the first of these was Hawaii, followed
by 34 other states, and that is where it encountered a problem.

The problem was named, Phyllis Schlafly.  In 1972, Ms. Schlafly
founded an organization called Stop ERA.  Her objections were
that the ERA would be bad for 'housewives' read 'stay-at-home'
moms, and women might be open to the selective service, and
it would threaten maternal custody of the children in the case of
a divorce.  Due to those, and other erroneous objections, five
states; Idaho, Kentucky, Tennessee, and South Dakota revoked
their ratification prior to 1979.  Ms. Schlafly was out in front in
her objections, but she wasn't alone.  Behind her were:
      * The National Council of Catholic Women
      * The AFL-CIO
      * Religious conservatives concerned with abortion and gay
         marriage
      * Southern Whites
      * Mormons
      * Orthodox Jews
      *Roman Catholics

In 1978, Congress voted for, and President Jimmy Carter signed a
bill extending the ratification deadline to June 30, 1982.  Since then
there have been numerous attempts to extend or remove the dead-
line to no avail.

Equal rights for women was a plank in the Republican party platform
from 1940 until 1980.  The Democratic party, because of pressures
from the unions, didn't include equal rights for women in their party
platform until 1972 when Congress passed the ERA amendment.  In
1980 at the Republican party convention, the party platform was amended
to end support for the ERA.  This resulted in women's dissatisfaction
with the GOP and there was a movement to the Democrats that helped
elect Bill Clinton.    

A new movement to pass the ERA began again in the 1960's as a result
of Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique.  And it was driven by
problems with women's social and economic status and the lack of
government enforcement of the equal pay act.  In June of 1966, Ms.
Friedan and several female activist groups formed the National
Organization for Women, NOW, and begun demanding full equality.
The term 'feminist' took on a pejorative connotation, and despite being
introduced in Congress every year, the ERA failed to gain momentum.

In 2010, the Me-Too movement once again garnered interest in reviving
the ERA, and on March 8, 2011, the 100th anniversary of International
Women's Day, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D. Wisc), introduced legislation
to remove the deadline for ratification of the ERA.  It had 56 co-sponsors.
The resolution was referred to the Subcommittee of the Constitution in the
Justice Department.  The subcommittee failed to vote on it and it died in
committee when the Congressional session ended for the year.  In 2012
Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D, Maryland), introduced a similar bill in the
Senate, it died in committee also.

In 2017 Nevada, despite the sunset clause in the Equal Rights bill, ratified
the amendment.  And in 2018 the Illinois state congress did the same.  At
this point, there are now 37 of the 38 states needed to make the Equal Rights
Amendment an article of the Constitution.  And on November 5, 2019, the
state of Virginia turned blue, with a majority of the congress and the governor
belonging to the Democratic Party.  For the first time in over 400 years, there
is a woman who is the Speaker of the House, and she is ready to preside over
the vote to ratify the ERA.

Last week, the third week in November 2019, the House Judiciary Committee
voted 21 to 11 in favor of a resolution eliminating the deadline for ratification
of the ERA.  This paves the way for Virginia to be the 38th state to ratify the
ERA - a full 96 years after it was first proposed.  Once there are 38 states who
ratified the amendment, the ratification is sent to the National Archives and
Records Administration where an archivist will certify that the amendment is
valid and has become part of the Constitution.

However Rep. Mike Johnson (R Iowa), has said he feels the proceedings are
invalid and the entire process must be restarted.  It is anticipated that the matter
will involve the Supreme Court and when that happens, both side have lawyers
waiting to file amicus briefs as soon as Virginia acts.  And if that does happen,
legal scholars say there is no reasonable chance that the ERA would be held to
have been validly adopted, since it expired 35 years ago.

Ratification of the Equal Rights  Amendment would have disastrous consequences
for the pro-life cause. It might invalidate the state laws which have placed onerous
obstacles in the way of women seeking a legal abortion.  Conservatives feel this is
why the Democrats are pushing ahead with ratification before Roe v Wade can be
re-adjudicated before the Supreme Court.

Let me say something to all the Republicans who feel they are saving me from the
disastrous consequences of the ERA; do not bother, I don't need you to tell me I am
your equal, in fact I already know I am your superior.

I'm just sayin'.