2. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
3. In the first year after the amendment was passed, 22 states ratified it. Indiana became the 35th state to ratify the ERA in 1977. Then its momentum stalled. After lying dormant for decades, the ERA has begun to gain momentum in recent years. Nevada ratified it in 2017, Illinois in 2018, and now Virginia appears to be on the cusp of doing so.
4. A 38th state ratifying the ERA wouldn’t be the end of it. It’s 37 years past the deadline Congress set for it to become a constitutional amendment: Congress originally set a 1979 deadline, and when that date hit, the amendment only had 35 ratifications. Congress extended the deadline to 1982, but it missed that as well.
5. Congress put a seven-year deadline for ratifying the ERA in 1972.
6. Virginia got close to ratifying the ERA last year, but the GOP-controlled legislature ultimately rejected it. A House committee refused to take it up, and a Senate panel defeated it 9 to 5. Men cast all of the “no” votes. With Democrats in control, hopes are high that next time around will be different.
7. It’s 37 years past the deadline Congress set for it to become a constitutional amendment: Congress originally set a 1979 deadline, and when that date hit, the amendment only had 35 ratifications. Congress extended the deadline to 1982, but it missed that as well. Still, there are some potential workarounds. A 2013 report said Congress could just vote to change the previous deadline.Rep. Jackie Speier and Sen. Ben Cardin introduced legislation in 2017 that would remove the ratification deadline for the ERA.
6. Virginia got close to ratifying the ERA last year, but the GOP-controlled legislature ultimately rejected it. A House committee refused to take it up, and a Senate panel defeated it 9 to 5. Men cast all of the “no” votes. With Democrats in control, hopes are high that next time around will be different.
7. It’s 37 years past the deadline Congress set for it to become a constitutional amendment: Congress originally set a 1979 deadline, and when that date hit, the amendment only had 35 ratifications. Congress extended the deadline to 1982, but it missed that as well. Still, there are some potential workarounds. A 2013 report said Congress could just vote to change the previous deadline.Rep. Jackie Speier and Sen. Ben Cardin introduced legislation in 2017 that would remove the ratification deadline for the ERA.
8. In 1982, an undergraduate student, Gregory Watson, figured out that the amendment could still be ratified and started what would eventually become a successful grassroots campaign to ratify, in 1992, the 27th Amendment.
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