as introduced - 93rd Legislature (2023 - 2024) Posted on 03/08/2023 01:53pm
A resolution
memorializing Congress to resolve that the requirements have been met to ratify the
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and that it shall now be known as the Twenty-Eighth
Amendment to the Constitution.
WHEREAS, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was first passed by Congress in 1972 and
was sent to the states for ratification; and
WHEREAS, the ERA guarantees "[e]quality of rights under the law shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."; and
WHEREAS, the adoption of the ERA will help to advance gender justice for women, girls,
and gender-expansive individuals; and
WHEREAS, the ERA authorizes Congress to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions
of the ERA; and
WHEREAS, the ERA states that the amendment will take effect two years after the last
constitutionally necessary state ratification occurs; and
WHEREAS, on January 27, 2020, Virginia became the 38th and final state needed to ratify
the ERA, which has been ratified by the necessary three-fourths of states; and
WHEREAS, the Archivist of the United States performs a statutory and ministerial role with
respect to certifying the ratification of amendments to the United States Constitution; and
WHEREAS, as of this date, the Archivist has not certified the amendment; and
WHEREAS, no time limit exists within the text of the proposed amendment that was ratified
by more than three-fourths of the states; and
WHEREAS, women, girls, and gender-expansive people across the country are experiencing
declining access to health, wealth, and opportunity, and increasing incidences of poverty and
violence; and
WHEREAS, the ERA was first written by Alice Paul, the head of the National Woman's
Party, in order to guarantee that the rights affirmed by the United States Constitution are held
equally by all citizens without regard to sex; and
WHEREAS, the ERA would provide a fundamental legal remedy against sex discrimination;
and
WHEREAS, the ERA would clarify the legal status of sex discrimination for the courts,
where decisions still deal inconsistently with such claims; and
WHEREAS, Minnesota ratified the ERA in 1973; and
WHEREAS, the first, and still the only, right that the United States Constitution specifically
affirms to be equal for women and men is the right to vote under the 19th Amendment, which was
ratified by the states in 1920; and
WHEREAS, the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the
United States has never been interpreted to protect against sex discrimination in the same way that
the ERA would; and
WHEREAS, in September 2010, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said he did not believe
that the United States Constitution, specifically the 14th Amendment, protects against sex
discrimination; and
WHEREAS, the ERA has not been ratified in 12 states, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas,
Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina,
and Utah; and
WHEREAS, in 1868, the 14th Amendment was added to the Constitution despite two states
purporting to rescind their ratification; and
WHEREAS, the state constitutions of 27 states, including Alaska, California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming, provide either inclusive or partial
guarantees of equal rights on the basis of sex; and
WHEREAS, without the addition of the ERA to the United States Constitution, legislation
and case law that has resulted in extraordinary progress for women has the potential to be ignored,
weakened, or reversed. Congress can amend or repeal legislation advancing equality with a simple
majority vote, the presidential administration can weakly enforce these laws, and the United States
Supreme Court can continue to use intermediate scrutiny when reviewing cases concerning gender;
and
WHEREAS, it is vital that the constitutional gender equality rights be upheld now that the
ERA has been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and
WHEREAS, the Archivist of the United States has a statutory and ministerial duty to certify
that a proposed amendment to the Constitution is valid and has become part of the Constitution
once it is ratified by more than three-fourths of the states; and
WHEREAS, Section 3 of the Equal Rights Amendment states that the amendment shall take
effect two years after the last constitutionally necessary state ratification occurs, which was January
27, 2020; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges the Congress
of the United States to pass House Resolution 891, resolving that the requirements have been met
to ratify the ERA and that it shall now be known as the Twenty-Eighth Amendment to the
Constitution.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is directed
to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States, the
President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United
States House of Representatives, and the Members of the United States Congress.