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.

[catnipman]

the so-called “equal-rights” amendment is obsolete anyway since it doesn’t include the Heinz 57 LGBTQWERT+ “genders” ...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

You could even say the ERA is genderist.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

This is one of 535 national legislators who make big decisions for all of the rest of us. And people wonder how things have gone awry.

We have always had duds in public office, but she and a lot of the current crew have elevated dudism to an art form.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Why would women want to retreat to Equal Rights when the courts have already accorded them Superior Rights? :)

[Albion Wilde]

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

[thinden]

great tag line + great meme!