Gillibrand Presses Biden to Amend the Constitution to Enshrine Sex Equality

The New York Times ^ | Dec. 13, 2024, 12:09 p.m. ET | Annie Karni

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is leading the charge for Democrats to persuade President Biden to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment, which would invite a Supreme Court battle.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is on a mission in President Biden’s final days in office. She wants to convince him that he can rescue his legacy by adding the century-old Equal Rights Amendment, which would explicitly guarantee sex equality, to the Constitution as a way to protect abortion rights in post-Roe America.

He could do it all, she contends, with one phone call.

Both houses of Congress approved the amendment in 1972, but it was not ratified by the states in time to be added to the Constitution. Ms. Gillibrand has been pushing a legal theory that the deadline for ratification is irrelevant and unconstitutional. All that remains, she argues, is for Mr. Biden to direct the national archivist, who is responsible for the certification and publication of constitutional amendments, to publish the E.R.A. as the 28th Amendment.

The move would almost certainly invite a legal challenge that would land in the Supreme Court. But Ms. Gillibrand wants Mr. Biden to use his presidential power while he still has it to force the issue, effectively daring Republicans to wage a legal battle to take away equal rights for women.

Ms. Gillibrand’s is just one of the many entreaties Democrats in Congress are making to Mr. Biden in the waning hours of his term to take bold action before President-elect Donald J. Trump and an all-Republican Congress take over in January. Some are pressing him to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. Others are pushing for more clemency grants for incarcerated people.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Both houses of Congress approved the amendment in 1972, but it was not ratified by the states in time to be added to the Constitution. Ms. Gillibrand has been pushing a legal theory that the deadline for ratification is irrelevant and unconstitutional.

The Constitution is unconstitutional.

Check.

[goodnesswins]

What a moron.

[1Old Pro]

He could do it all, she contends, with one phone call.

And a pen.

[cgbg]

These days the Democrats can’t even figure out what a woman is....since they are not biologists ya know....

Lol.

[MtnClimber]

If men are required to be as emotional as some women then there are going to be regrets. Just sayin.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

“Stroke of a pen . . . law of the land. Kind of cool.” —Paul “The Forehead” Begala

[OttawaFreeper]

[BenLurkin]

SCOTUS can ‘t define what a woman is anyway.

[AppyPappy]

They don’t even believe in women

[Jamestown1630]

I saw this one talking about the drones yesterday. She doesn’t seem real bright.

[shanover]

The push to go full communist and criminal in 30 days is sickening.

[rightazrain]

Uhhh, the process to amend the Constitution is a wee bit more complicated than a call and a pen.

[bankwalker]

of what rights are they now deprived?

[KarlInOhio]

The seven year deadline ended on March 22, 1979. 35 states approved it before that date and three more votes to approve afterward. But 5 of those states voted to rescind their ratification before March 22, 1979 and one more afterward. So is a date limit allowed within an amendment and can a state rescind its ratification? The text of the Constitution is silent on both.

[Honorary Serb]

Gillibrand is pushing feminazi BS!

And any such action by biden won’t save his legacy—as perhaps the worst ever President of the United States!

[Billthedrill]

The DC Clown Show gets funnier and funnier. Not only do they want Biden to pardon everyone in the entire party from any crimes, past, present, or contemplated, they want him to enact Constitutional Amendments with a wave of his mighty wand for good measure. Underlying this is the conviction so dear to progressive hearts that once they get something they want it’s unchangeable and forever. Trump has driven these people nuts.

[Publius]

If you read Article V, you will see that there is no role for the President in the Amendatory Process. Biden has no say. Article V makes Congress and the states the only parties to amending the Constitution.

Ratification windows received the green light from the Supreme Court in 1921 in Dillon v. Gloss and again in 1939 in Coleman v. Miller. Ratification windows are relevant.

The ratification window for the ERA closed on June 1, 1979. The attempt by Congress to extend the ratification window to June 1, 1982 was killed by a federal court in Idaho because Congress used the Legislative Process as defined in Articles I and II rather than the Amendatory Process as defined in Article V. No higher court would take an appeal.

The belated ratifications by Illinois and Virginia were ruled null and void by a 3-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. No one attempted to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court.

The ERA died on June 1, 1979, and the only way it can come back is for its backers start from the beginning and get Congress to approve the amendment proposal by a two thirds vote in each House to send it to the states for ratification. Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg said so.

[Ge0ffrey]

Mwanwhile, the Republican party didn’t spend a dime to try to defeat Gillibrand this year.

[sten]

Don’t forget her father was middle management at NXIVM... the sex trafficking company

[1Old Pro]

the Republican party didn’t spend a dime to try to defeat Gillibrand this year.

Because NYS GOP Chair Ed (Tricia Nixon) Cox was too busy attending uniparty cocktail parties to get a competent candidate and fundraising going.