Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

 

Talking Points

🥳 HUZZAH! Our 28th Amendment is FINALLY recognized as finished! 🥳

On Friday, January 17th of 2025, President Biden announced what VoteEquality has asserted since the day Virginia ratified in 2020 when our team was still called VAratifyERA:

The Equal Rights Amendment IS our 28th Amendment. All Article V requirements in the U.S. Constitution have been met.

Because Colleen Shogun, the Biden Administration's National Archivist, refused to publish our 28th Amendment, she has created confusion over its status.

Fun facts: an Archivist has only published one ☝🏽 amendment and the Constitution does not 🚫 require this ministerial step for an amendment to be legally viable.

It is very common for a constitutional amendment to exist in a fuzzy / grey area as it gets sorted in the legal community and is commonly accepted by the American public. This amendment is no different, but must also overcome the misogyny of the past 100+ years which have held it back.

"Basically, (1) the Constitution outlines the requirements and doesn’t authorize Congress to add additional requirements like a deadline, (2) the Archivist's publication is ministerial, and (3) federal law says once the Archivist receives notice the requirements have been met, it shall be published." - Representative Jennifer McClellan

 

 

Next Steps:

Celebration

VoteEquality encourages all equality 🟰 lovers around the country 🇺🇸 to start planning a party 🍾 in your community this International Women's Day (Saturday, March 8th, 2025).

168 international constitutions include gender equality and now ours 📜 does too! Celebrating equality of rights under the law for 170 million women and girls and the LGBTQIA+ 🏳️‍🌈 community is a worthy celebration this year. JOIN US!

Implementation

Lawyers around the country are filing cases to challenge government sex discrimination at every level including city, states, counties, etc.

Equality advocates will continue their reviews of laws and legal policies at varying levels of government. Government officials will begin more formal internal reviews as well.

Additional information:

• WATCH: CSpan press conference with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
• READ: Constitutional scholars Laurence Tribe and Kathleen Sullivan outline the legal status of our 28th Amendment
• READ: American Constitution Society press release from January 17th
• READ: FAQ - deadline
• READ: FAQ - rescissions