President Joe Biden announced on Friday that the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has officially been affirmed.
In a statement, Biden said Virginia's 2020 vote means that enough states have ratified the law. This move will likely begin the legal debate over whether it is official and can be considered law. Congress had set a timeline for ratification, and Virginia's ratification was after that deadline.
"The American Bar Association (ABA) has recognized that the Equal Rights Amendment has cleared all necessary hurdles to be formally added to the Constitution as the 28th Amendment. I agree with the ABA and with leading legal constitutional scholars that the Equal Rights Amendment has become part of our Constitution," Biden said in a statement.
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The move caused a lot of shock and anticipation across the left.
Demcast host Nick Kundsen exclaimed, "Holy S---," responding to the unexpected news.
"But there's still another step -- and a legal fight -- ahead," said Moms Demand Action Shannon Watts.
"But he also has no formal role in the process, and WH officials say he is not ordering the archivist to help ratify it," said Washington Post reporter Matt Viser.
Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance wrote a Blue Sky thread on the legal debate saying, "The ERA needs to be formally published or certified to come into effect by the National Archivist — it's not clear what that means with the change in administrations."
"Next the archivist should publish the ERA. That task is 'purely ministerial,' he's required to do it once the law is ratified," she added. "It could happen today but more likely, Biden has put Trump in the position of letting it go into effect or holding it up. If Trump does, expect lawsuits because, ministerial."
She also pointed out that Trump has promised to replace the Archivist because the incumbent in the office played a role "in noticing Trump was illegally holding on to classified documents and asking to get them back. So, expect the new guy to be thoroughly in Trump's control."
"There is a legitimate legal issue BUT, there is no impediment to putting ERA into law, IF elected officials agree women deserve equal rights. There is no reason it shouldn't be done," she said, implying that Biden is forcing Republicans to argue women don't deserve equal rights publicly.
She also shared a 2020 explainer from The Brennan Center for Justice about it.
