A federal appeals court on Tuesday dismissed a case brought by two Democratic states that sought to have the US archivist publish and certify the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the Constitution.
The decision deals another blow to advocates’ legal efforts to get the amendment, which they say would ban discrimination on the basis of sex, recognized as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution.
“The States have not clearly and indisputably shown that the Archivist had a duty to certify and publish the ERA or that Congress lacked the authority to place a time limit in the proposing clause of the ERA,” the opinion from the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit states.
Illinois and Nevada in 2020 had sued the US Archivist David Ferriero, who has since retired, to compel the publication and certification of the ERA, arguing that it had met constitutional requirements.
The states appealed to the US Court of Appeals in the DC Circuit after a federal judge, an Obama appointee, dismissed the case in 2021, saying that the deadline for ratification had already passed.
Advocates for the ERA argue that the amendment would ban discrimination on the basis of sex and guarantee equality, while opponents say the ERA would undercut laws protecting women’s interests.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said in a statement that despite Tuesday’s ruling, “we will continue to fight for a published Constitution that explicitly prohibits all forms of discrimination, including discrimination based on sex.”
“Although the court of appeals did not direct the federal government to certify and publish the ERA, it is important to recognize what today’s opinion does not say,” the attorneys general said in the joint statement. “It does not say that the federal government cannot acknowledge the…
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