Equal Rights Amendment

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution which would have guaranteed equal rights under law for Americans regardless of gender.

Related Topics:
Amendment - United States Constitution - Equal rights - Law - Americans - Gender

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The deadline for ratification of the ERA—whether that deadline was March 22, 1979, or June 30, 1982—has come and gone and most observers are of the opinion that the ERA is no longer pending before America's state lawmakers for consideration. Other persons, however, maintain that if the legislatures of just three more states ratify it, the ERA could become part of the Federal Constitution. An articlehttp://www.4ERA.org/threestate.html published in the William and Mary Law School Journal in 1997 provides the constitutional rationale for the "3-state strategy" and the Library of Congress has issued a report suggesting that this theory is at least worthy of serious consideration. Polls show that a majority of Americans continue to support the ERA, and efforts to introduce ERA ratification resolutions—in the legislatures of those 15 states which never ratified the measure—have increased in recent years. At the Federal level, supporters of the ERA have re-introduced the amendment in Congresshttp://www.4ERA.org/legislation.html every term since 1982 without success. Regardless, the national debate on the ERA has largely subsided, in part because of expanded interpretations of existing statutes and constitutional provisions.

Related Topics:
March 22 - 1979 - June 30 - 1982 - State lawmakers - 1997 - Library of Congress - Report

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