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cori bush
'This Is a Victory': Biden Affirms ERA Has Been 'Ratified' and Law of the Land
"It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people," said the president.
Jan 17, 2025
More than half a century after the U.S. Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment, President Joe Biden on Friday announced his administration's official opinion that the amendment is ratified and its protections against sex-based discrimination are enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
The announcement has been long demanded by rights advocates including Democratic lawmakers who have recently called on Biden to affirm the ERA's ratification in order to protect reproductive rights that have been gutted by the Republican Party.
"It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people," said Biden. "In keeping with my oath and duty to Constitution and country, I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: The 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex."
The statement came five years after Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA. With that move, state lawmakers completed the requirement that three-fourths of U.S. states ratify the amendment.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, ratification deadlines that were set by Congress after the ERA had passed by the time Virginia ratified the amendment, and five states have rescinded their approval.
But a senior White House official told CNN Friday that the president's decision was informed by the American Bar Association's opinion that "no time limit was included in the text of the Equal Rights Amendment."
"The Constitution's framers wisely avoided the chaos that would have resulted if states were able to take back the ratifying votes at any time," according to the legal association.
Former U.S. Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), who in November called on Biden to take every action available to him in order to protect reproductive rights, including ensuring the ERA was recognized as part of the Constitution, called the president's announcement "an historic and consequential step."
"For over a century, we have fought for the principle that 'equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex,'" said Bush. "These 24 words must now be published and enshrined in our Constitution to provide a crucial safeguard against discrimination for women, LGBTQ+ folks, and all marginalized communities."
With Biden issuing his opinion, advocates have held that the archivist of the United States, Colleen Shogan, must now certify and publish the amendment.
In December, Shogan released a statement saying that in 2020 and 2022, "the U.S. Department of Justice affirmed that the ratification deadline established by Congress for the ERA is valid and enforceable" arguing that the ERA could not be certified.
The senior administration official told CNN that Shogan "is required to publish an amendment once it has been effectively ratified."
"It will be up to the courts to interpret this and their view of the Equal Rights Amendment," they added.
Kate Kelly, a human rights lawyer who wrote the book Ordinary Equality about the ERA, asserted the amendment has been part of the Constitution since it was ratified by Virginia in 2020.
"The Archivist has no constitutional or legal role in the amending process," said Kelly. "She does NOT get to decide what is or is not in the U.S. Constitution. Her boss (the president of the United States) has spoken for his administration. That's it. The ERA is in! This is a victory."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said Biden's action on Friday honored "the work of generations of activists and organizers for equal rights."
"While we still have much work to do to ensure that the next generation of women has more, not less, rights than previous generations, this is an important declaration," said Jayapal. "Now we must do the work to truly make this the practice of the land."
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Cori Bush Calls On Biden to Protect Reproductive Rights With ERA
"President Biden has two months," said the congresswoman.
Nov 13, 2024
With just over two months to go until U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office, U.S. Rep. Cori Bush on Wednesday urged President Joe Biden to take all the action he can to protect reproductive rights from Republican leader who has bragged about his role in ensuring Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Biden "must immediately direct the archivist of the United States to certify and publish the Equal Rights Amendment which can protect access to abortion care and contraception," said the Missouri Democrat, who co-chairs the Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment.
Bush's call comes more than a year after the congresswoman and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced the ERA Now Resolution, urging Colleen Shogan, the archivist of the United States, to certify state ratifications of the amendment and publish it in the Federal Register, which would formally cement it as part of the U.S. Constitution.
First introduced 101 years ago, the ERA would guarantee legal equality for women and men in the U.S. It could push judges to overturn anti-abortion rights laws on the basis that they violate a constitutional right to gender equality. In Utah, a state-level ERA has successfully blocked an abortion ban.
Since first being proposed, the ERA was passed by Congress in 1972 and sent to the states for ratification. Virginia became the 38th state to ratify it in 2020, meeting the threshold for it to become law.
"Today the ERA has met all the constitutional requirements to become the 28th Amendment—all that's standing in the way is some paperwork," said Bush in July on the anniversary of the ERA's introduction. "As Republicans and the Supreme Court's extremist majority continue to attack access to abortion care, contraception, and LGBTQ+ rights, the ERA is needed now more than ever to protect our communities. I'm urging the archivist to fulfill her ministerial duty by certifying and publishing the Equal Rights Amendment and affirming it as the 28th Amendment."
The overturning of Roe in 2022 paved the way for at least 21 states to ban or restrict abortion care. Republicans in Congress have proposed a nationwide 15-week abortion ban. Trump has claimed he would not sign a national ban but Vice President-elect JD Vance has expressed support for one.
"There is always the possibility of a national ban," Brittany Fonteno, president of the National Abortion Federation, told The Cut on Wednesday.
In her July statement, Bush said that "one hundred and one years of advocacy have brought us to this moment, and we refuse to wait a minute longer to cement constitutional gender equality as the law of the land in St. Louis, Missouri, and across the nation."
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House Progressives Challenge Biden's 'Unauthorized' Mideast Militarism
"Absent an imminent or actual sudden attack on the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces, the executive branch may not introduce U.S. armed forces into hostilities without Congress' prior approval."
Nov 01, 2024
A handful of progressive Democrats in the House of Representatives on Friday accused President Joe Biden of violating the Constitution and the War Powers Act by deploying U.S. troops to help Israel's war effort and urged his administration to pursue "de-escalatory action" in the Middle East.
"We are deeply concerned about the increasing role and involvement of the U.S. armed forces in expanding wars across the Middle East," Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), and André Carson (D-Ind.)—who all sponsored last year's " Cease-fire Now" resolution—wrote in a letter to Biden.
"Congress has the sole power to declare war."
This includes the deployment of U.S. commandos and intelligence officers to Israel just days after last year's Hamas-led attack that left more than 1,100 Israelis and foreign nationals dead—some of them killed fratricidally—and over 240 others taken prisoner, as well as a crew to operate an anti-ballistic missile battery following Iran's barrage against Israel last month.
"Congress has the sole power to declare war under Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution," the lawmakers wrote. "As Section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 makes abundantly clear, Congress holds the power to direct the removal of any armed forces engaged in hostilities outside the territory of the United States without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization."
"Absent an imminent or actual sudden attack on the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces, the executive branch may not introduce U.S. armed forces into hostilities without Congress' prior approval," they stressed.
The letter—which came shortly before Election Day and is backed by over a dozen peace, progressive, and faith-based groups—continues:
Despite the administration's stated goal of avoiding a regional war, increasingly dangerous escalations have been made possible by transfers to the Israeli government of billions of dollars worth of weapons and military aid, comprehensive intelligence sharing and operational coordination, and diplomatic cover from the United States in the face of widespread condemnation from the international community...
Meanwhile, recent reporting indicates American military officials have discussed unauthorized U.S. military strikes against Iran. We have already seen an increase in U.S. service members deployed to the region in areas where there is a clear and present danger of hostilities.
"This current involvement, and any additional involvement or deployment, of the armed forces in the Israeli government's expanding regional war fall under the definition of 'hostilities' in the War Powers Resolution and are not in response to an imminent or actual attack against the United States," the lawmakers wrote. "As such, these actions are unauthorized and are subject to Congress' authorities pursuant to the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution."
The legislators ask Biden to explain his administration's "legal or constitutional justification" for "proposed hostilities" against Iran, whether the U.S. is "providing military services of any nature" for Israel, and for clarification of claims that U.S. attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen were conducted in accordance with the Constitution's self-defense authority.
The lawmakers stressed:
De-escalatory action is urgent and essential. Since October of last year, the Israeli government has killed over 43,000 Palestinians in Gaza, with this number likely a significant undercount. This includes over 16,700 children. Over 90% of the population has been displaced, and Palestinians throughout Gaza continue to face famine and starvation. In this same period, the Israeli government has killed over 2,700 people in Lebanon, the vast majority of whom have been killed since the start of the Israeli military's ground invasion and bombing campaign last month. Over 1.2 million people in Lebanon have already been displaced. These campaigns of collective punishment have continued to spread, with sieges on Palestinian cities and refugee camps in the West Bank, the bombing of critical civilian infrastructure in Yemen, and escalations of belligerence with Iran and Syria.
"These destructive wars must end, as must any unauthorized U.S. involvement in them," the letter concludes. "The American public deserves a say on the issue of war. Thus, Congress' involvement and debate are necessary. Every day that passes without a cease-fire produces catastrophic loss of life and threatens further death and destruction. We have an obligation to both the living and the dead to put an immediate end to this devastation."
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