Streamed live on January 27, 2022.  

Press Conference:

• Senator Sandy Pappas, Rep Rena Moran, Rep Kristin Bahner, Angelica Klebsch (for AG Keigh Ellison), Betty Folliard and Suzann Whillhite of ERA MN - discuss the introduction of a bill to analyze Minnesota's compliance with the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
• It is believed by many that the ERA is now the 28th Amendment - as it has been 2 years since the  38th state ratified the ERA.
• Federal ERA states: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex.
• They also discuss the need for a Minnesota ERA Constitutional Amendment.

Q&A Follows

Speier and Maloney Unveil Resolution Recognizing the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment.

​Resolution - Expressing the sense of the House of Representative that the article of amendment (commonly known as the "Equal Rights Amendment") to the Constitution is valid.  [View Resolution]

Celebrate January 27th as Federal ERA Day 

BRIEFING ROOM 
Statement from President Biden on the Equal Rights Amendment
JANUARY 27, 2022 • 
STATEMENTS AND RELEASES

Today, as the House announces a resolution on the Equal Rights Amendment, I once again want to express my support for the ERA loudly and clearly. I have been a strong supporter of the ERA ever since I first ran for the Senate as a 29-year-old. We must recognize the clear will of the American people and definitively enshrine the principle of gender equality in the Constitution. It is long past time that we put all doubt to rest. I am calling on Congress to act immediately to pass a resolution recognizing ratification of the ERA. As the recently published Office of Legal Counsel memorandum makes clear, there is nothing standing in Congress’s way from doing so. No one should be discriminated against based on their sex—and we, as a nation, must stand up for full women’s equality.

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For Immediate Release
Contact: Maria McElwain (Blumenthal) 202-224-6452
Rebecca Brown (Klobuchar) 202-224-3244
Lauren Wodarski (Cortez Masto) 202-821-6169
Nelly Decker (Maloney) 202-226-5181
Tracy Manzer (Speier) 202-225-3531
January 26, 2022

BLUMENTHAL, KLOBUCHAR, CORTEZ MASTO, MALONEY, & SPEIER URGE DOJ TO RESCIND FLAWED OPINION THAT SEEKS TO OBSTRUCT RATIFICATION OF EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT
 
The ERA text states that the Amendment takes effect on Thursday, two years after ratification by the constitutionally required 38th state

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and U.S. Representatives Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) and Jackie Speier (D-CA) called on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) to withdraw an opinion seeking to stand in the way of the Equal Rights Amendment’s (ERA) recognition as the 28th Amendment.
 
Since its approval by the House of Representatives and the Senate in 1971 and 1972, respectfully, the ERA has reached the constitutionally required threshold of ratification by three-fourths, or 38 states. The ERA text requires the amendment take effect two years after the final state’s ratification; this Thursday marks two years since Virginia became the 38th state to sign on.
 
“It is inexcusable that in the year 2022, women and girls still cannot find a guarantee of equality under the law reflected in their own Constitution,” the lawmakers wrote to Assistant Attorney General Christopher H. Schroeder. “Ratifying the ERA would make protections for women and girls permanent, enshrining in our Constitution the guarantee to equality under law on the basis of sex, once and for all.”    
 
The 2020 OLC opinion cited an arbitrary time limit Congress included in the preamble of the ERA resolution—but not in the text of the resolution ratified by the states—to claim that ratifications by the final three states of Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia were moot.  The OLC opinion also concluded that the only way for the ERA to be ratified at this point is to reintroduce it and start the entire process from scratch, after decades of effort. Prominent constitutional legal scholars have issued an analysis finding the OLC opinion is legally flawed and must be withdrawn.
 
“Any action to deny the basic recognition of sex equality demands a robust justification on policy and legal grounds. The January 2020 OLC opinion falls far short of this high standard,” the lawmakers wrote. “Article V lays out the amending process.  It does not say anything about deadlines. It simply states that an amendment becomes valid when ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures.” 
 
The lawmakers concluded by calling on the OLC to reverse the opinion and allow for the Archivist to carry out his ministerial duty of recognizing the complete and final adoption of the ERA.
 
“After generations of fighting for the ERA, sex equality deserves a permanent home in the Constitution. A flawed opinion from the OLC must not be allowed to stand in the way of their rights… It is long past time to bring the United States Constitution into the 20th (let alone the 21st) century by expressly recognizing equality on the basis of sex.”
 
The full text of the letter is available here and below.

Thank you to Senator Klobuchar for standing up for the ERA.

PRESS ADVISORY   
For Immediate Release 
Contact: Suzann Willhite  suzann@eramn.org  (612) 554-4008
                Betty Folliard     betty.folliard@gmail.com  (612) 868-3511

January 24, 2022

ERAMN Announces #Day1forERA Rally

Saint Paul -  ERA Minnesota (ERAMN, https://www.eramn.org) is holding a huge rally called #Day1forERA on Monday, January 31, 2022, at 11am in the Minnesota Capitol Rotunda. All are invited.

Confirmed speakers thus far are: Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Senate Minority Leader Melisa López Franzen, Senators Scott Dibble, Mary Kunesh, Jennifer McEwen, Sandy Pappas, Chuck Wiger, and Representatives Kristin Bahner, Kaohly Vang Her, Frank Hornstein, and Rena Moran.

Cosponsors to date include:
AAUW - Mpls, Alliance of Medical Graduates, Breaking Free, Education Minnesota, ​GenderJustice, GenERAtionRatify MN, Island & Discarded Women, Isuroon, League of Women Voters (LWV) - Mpls., LWV-MN, LWV-St. Paul, AFL-CIO MN, MN Move to Amend,  MN Now, Minnesota Protests, MN Renewable Now, Mom's Demand Action MN, National Council of Jewish Women -MN, OneMN, RISE - Reviving Sisterhood, Rock What You Got, Save our Sons MN, transforming families, UniteWomen-MN, VH4Change,  Women Winning, Women's March MN, 

This Thursday, January 27, 2022, the 28th Amendment becomes enforceable in the courts for cases based on sex discrimination, having been properly ratified by the 38 states on January 27, 2020 and thereby achieving all constitutional requirements to become the 28th Amendment to the US Constitution. As of that date, the two-year waiting period before final enactment specified in the amendment will have expired. 

Never in the history of this country has an amendment to The Constitution, having achieved all constitutional requirements set out by Article V (that is, adopted by 2/3 of Congress and ratified by 3/4 states) been stalled by an arbitrary time limit, until women’s rights were on the table. We’re done waiting.

ERA Minnesota, along with 86 Business & Corporate Entities, 24 states, over fifty national Coalitions and Advocates for Equality & Women’s Rights, International Organizations, the United Conference of Mayors, a host of top Constitutional Law Professors and many others, is on federal litigation (https://VoteEquality.US/FAQ/Virginia-v-Ferriero) to ensure final enactment of the 28th Amendment. 

ERAMN's goal is to finally pass the long overdue ERA into our state constitution and enshrine equality for all in the US Constitution. We will showcase 11 ERA bills currently before the Minnesota Legislature and share the new ERA COMPLIANCE BILL being introduced this Session.

Last year the US Congress passed a bill to rescind the arbitrary time limit that was imposed on women’s rights. Nationally, advocates’ energies are now aimed at the US Senate. And at the Minnesota Capitol, our goal is to declare this year the year to finally make Equality legal by passing our ERA legislation.

We welcome the press to our #Day1forERA Rally.
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ERA Minnesota is a coalition of advocates and organizations dedicated to ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) into our federal & state constitutions. Founded in 2014.  The federal ERA simply states: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” ​