No Bra Burners This Time - The ERA In The 21st Century
MayorBob.
Posted to Politics on Thu Mar 29, 2007 at 12:03:12 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
You might end up with a Rip Van Winkle moment when you read this story. Because, it will be like you nodded off to sleep back in the early 1980s and you're waking up a little over two decades later and one of the first things you see is there's a major push on to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
The ERA has been around for over 80 years, but it wasn't until 1972 that it passed both houses of Congress. Then the amendment went out to the various state legislatures to try to get three quarters (38) of the states to ratify it so it could be enacted. Alas, after ten years of politicking and consideration in all 50 state legislatures, it fell short of passage by three states and has been pretty much a dead issue since. Now, with Democrats in control of both houses of Congress the ERA, now called the Women's Equality Amendment has been reintroduced. Congressional leadership vows this will pass muster sometime during this session of Congress. Thus the clock begins running anew on this attempt to ensure gender equality is a part of the US Constitution.
Perhaps not, if the analysis of a group of constitutional scholars holds weight. The ten year limit to get the ERA ratified by 35 states ran out in 1982. However, an analysis published back in 1997 came to the opinion the original 35 states are in the bag; the only thing supporters need to get is three more states to sign on. It pointed out the history behind the Madison Amendment which took more than 202 years between introduction in the Congress and completion of ratification by 38 states in 1992.
For that reason there are amendment resolutions pending in five states which failed to ratify back in 1982: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, and Missouri. Thus far, progress in those five states has been less than lightning quick. The bill in Arkansas is bottled up in committee and the Florida House has yet to assign it to a committee. There could still be a legal challenge to beginning this attempts count at 35 states approving with three to go. Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum is one organization which can most certainly be counted on to oppose. Opposition to the ERA is one of one of Eagle Forum's key initiatives. Schlafly has already been down in Arkansas testifying against the bill, saying its passage would pave the way to same sex marriage and deny Social Security benefits for housewives and widows. One Arkansas politician said he didn't like the vagueness of language in the amendment, saying that the ERA in a couple of other states had resulted in judges ordering state funding for abortions.
Another dynamic to be considered is, if a legal challenge is thrown up to not starting over at scratch with ratification proceedings in all the states, how easy would it be to get the original 35 to ratify? Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Tennessee rescinded ratification after 1982 and Republicans hold sway in both houses of the legislature in Idaho and South Dakota with Democrats holding one house and Republicans holding the other in Kentucky and Tennessee. A cursory look at the other 30 states reveals that Democrats hold control in both houses in 15 of those states; Democrats hold one house and Republicans the other in 7; and Republicans are in control of both houses in eight states. If supporters have to begin anew once the bill passes Congress, there will be no time limit placed on gaining final ratification.
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