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Despite setbacks, resolution calling for Congress to ratify the ERA clears Michigan House

Michigan is wading into the long fight to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

State Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) last month introduced House Concurrent Resolution 3 and the House approved it. The measure calls on the archivist of the United States to certify and publish the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It also calls on Congress to declare the legislation as ratified.

“Today’s resolution is a reminder that our work is not yet done when it comes to our commitment that all people — regardless of their gender — should share equally in the rights they deserve, and that Congress still needs to ratify the ERA,” Pohutsky said after the resolution passed on March 22.

The ERA could finally become a reality. Here’s a look back at Michigan women’s fight for equality.

With the recent ratifications of the ERA by Nevada in 2017, Illinois in 2018 and Virginia in 2020, the number of states needed for certification of the ERA to become the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has been reached.

However, that action was stalled due to the Department of Justice (DOJ) under former President Donald Trump in January 2020.

“We conclude that the ERA Resolution has expired and is no longer pending before the States,” the DOJ memo reads. “Even if one or more state legislatures were to ratify the 1972 proposal, that action would not complete the ratification of the amendment, and the ERA’s adoption could not be certified under 1 U.S.C.”

Under direction from Trump, the National Archives and Records Administration did not add the ERA to the Constitution.

The D.C. Circuit Court ruled in February in Illinois v. Ferriero that federal courts can’t order the ERA to be published.

However, Pohutsky argues that if the Michigan Legislature OKs her resolution, this “would send a powerful signal that the amendment should be recognized as having been adopted.”

ERA beginnings and connection and connection to Michigan

The women’s suffrage movement led the fight for the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote that was passed by Congress in 1919 and ratified by states in 1920.

Activists then turned their attention to the ERA in the early 1920s. The original ERA legislation was drafted in 1923 by women’s suffragist Alice Paul and was designed to ban discrimination on account of sex.

In 1950 and 1953, the U.S. Senate passed ERA resolutions, but the House did not affirm them. In 1970, the effort received a boost. Then-U.S. Rep. Martha Griffiths (D-Detroit) introduced a bill just as seminal civil rights legislation had been signed into law and the women’s rights movement was gaining national attention.

“This amendment has been in the Judiciary [Committee] since 1923,” Griffith said of the amendment in 1970. “Two generations and seven years is long enough for any committee to act.”

The ERA passed through both chambers in Congress on March 22, 1972, sending the legislation to state legislatures for their ratification. Michigan ratified the ERA on May 22, 1972, but the amendment failed to meet the requisite number of state ratifications (38) by Congress’ deadline of June 30, 1982, so it was not adopted as a constitutional amendment.

By the early 1990s, ERA many supporters adopted a “three-state strategy,” which was designed to organize and push for three more states to ratify and thus meet the threshold. The argument is tied to ratification of the Constitution’s 27th Amendment, which is also referred to as the “Madison Amendment” that was adopted in 1992.

The measure, which dealt with congressional pay raises and not the ERA, became part of the Constitution and had been pending before state legislatures since 1789 before achieving the necessary three-quarters ratification.

In 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to adopt the ERA, but the effort has been stymied by both the Trump administration and the courts.

But women’s rights activists have kept up the fight. In a December 2019 interview with the Michigan Advance, Laura Carter Callow, a Canton resident who has advocated for the ERA since the 1970s, said: “I believe that this is a matter of civil justice that is long overdue.”

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Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and Twitter.

‘Consumed by grievances’: Nikki Haley turns up the heat and attacks Trump directly

Former South Carolina governor and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is finally taking the gloves off and attacking former President Donald Trump directly — at least in conversation with donors, reported Axios.”Nikki Haley’s 2024 campaign is telling donors that former President Trump is ‘consumed by the grievances of the past and the promise of more drama in the future,’ according to a memo obtained by Axios,” reported Alexi McCammond. “‘Donald Trump had a pretty good Q1, if you count being indicted as ‘good,” Haley’s campaign manager Betsy Ankney wrote in the memo. ‘Still, it’s increasingly clear that Trump’s candidacy is more consumed by the grievances of the past and the promise of more drama in the future, rather than a forward-looking vision for the American people,’ the memo went on.”This comes after Haley went after Trump indirectly, suggesting both he and President Joe Biden are too old for the job and proposing a mental competency test for any politician over the age of 75.The memo reportedly also takes a shot at Gov. Ron DeSantis, the only prospective 2024 candidate who has beaten Trump in any polls, calling him “not ready for prime time” — and mocks several other candidates, like South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, by adding, “And then there are the others. Wait, what others?”Trump has gone after Haley already, focusing in particular on her previous support for one-time House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to turn Medicare into a voucher system. He has similarly attacked DeSantis for backing cuts to Social Security.”Haley has so far rejected the “splashy” campaigning of her competitors, instead sticking to traditional retail politics during an election in which the GOP primary and electorate have been completely refashioned in Trump’s image,” the report noted. “The former UN ambassador has barnstormed Iowa and New Hampshire, holding nearly 20 events with voters in the last six weeks. She’s also held events in South Carolina and talked about immigration at the southern border.”

Senate GOP wants Trump to stay away from 2024 races as his legal woes mount 

This post was originally published on this siteSenate Republicans, including members of leadership and even Trump allies, say former President Trump should stay out of the 2024 Senate primaries, hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s disappointing midterm elections. They view Trump as becoming more of a political liability in next year’s Senate races […]

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