The United States House of Representatives passed HR 79 to remove the deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment on February 13, 2020.

Now is the time to phone, write, message, text NC senators Tillis and Burr with this clear, simple message:

Dear Sen. _____:

“Please vote ‘yes’ to remove the deadline to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, SJR 6. As your constituent, I strongly support equal rights for all and appreciate your voting ‘yes’ to drop the deadline.  Thank you so much!!”

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Senator Thom Tillis

185 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone Number:    (202) 224-6342

Email Address:     www.tillis.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-me

Senator Richard Burr

217 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 2051

Phone Numbers: (202) 224-3154 or (800)685-8916

Email Address:  www.burr.senate.gov/contact/email

NC Attorney General Josh Stein is a signatory on a letter calling on Congressional leaders to bring H.J. Res 79 and S.J. Res 6 to the floor. “As the Attorneys General of our respective States and District, we write to urge Congress to bring to the floor H.J. Res. 79 and S.J. Res. 6. These bipartisan measures would remove any ratification deadline that may apply to the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and thus remove any doubt as to its constitutional viability.”  https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2.11.2020_multistate_lt_to_congress_re_era_.pdf; 

Marena Groll, co-president of the ERA-NC Alliance, stated, “We have been in communications with the Attorney General’s office providing background on the ERA, information about tomorrow’s vote, and finalizing the schedule to meet personally to offer more information. 

“As the ERA is beginning to enter the national discussion and conversations emerge speculating what the courts will/will not do, please remember that  Coleman v Miller fortifies the position that Congress has the authority to address time limits independent of the courts.  We know we expect Congressional action tomorrow (Feb. 13). So, it’s important to continue lobbying for Congressional representatives to pass H.J. Res 79 to remove the time limit.  If you wish to live stream the vote, it may come as early as 11 am, but you would need to continue to check the live stream feed as we do not have a firm time: https://live.house.gov 

“Also today, Speaker Pelosi held an ERA press conference: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-vote-resolution-dissolve-equal-rights-amendment-deadline/story?id=689371 Note that Congresswoman Jackie Speier says, ‘We want in.’” #ERANow #WeWantIn 

Opening words of lawsuit filed by Attorneys General of Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia, declaring that the ERA must be put into the Constitution:

The United States Constitution now declares, once and for all, that equality of rights
under the law shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. For nearly 150 years, our
Nation’s foundational document did not acknowledge the existence of women. In 1920, the
concept of equality among the sexes appeared in the Constitution for the first time, but was
limited to the right to vote. Now—after 231 years and on the centennial of the 19th
Amendment—the American people have committed to equality regardless of sex by adopting the
Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
On January 27, 2020, the Commonwealth of Virginia became the 38th State to ratify the
Equal Rights Amendment. At that moment, the process set forth in Article V of the U.S.
Constitution was complete. Plaintiff States Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia—the three States to
most recently ratify—ask this Court for an order: (1) directing the Archivist of the United States
to perform his purely ministerial duty under 1 U.S.C. § 106b to “cause the amendment to be
published, with his certificate, specifying . . . that the same has become valid, to all intents and
purposes, as a part of the Constitution of the United States,” and (2) declaring that the Equal
Rights Amendment has become the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

See entire document at: https://files.constantcontact.com/bfcd0cef001/831d20a5-201c-4e44-bb58-b3decade2e78.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1jSr8i7RSCWmkNVWZPIdYofBJ4Tfyx0bbrQ3djM8AzWnjDFUMgpFdlZJk

ERA Coalition Statement on the lawsuit filed by VA, IL and NV

(January 30, 2020) Washington, DC – 

Washington, DC –The ERA Coalition and Fund for Women’s Equality welcomes the legal action of Attorney General Mark Herring of Virginia, Attorney General Kwame Raoul of Illinois and Attorney General Aaron Ford of Nevada to support constitutional equality for women. The legislators and advocates in these three states have brought us to this historic moment in time. In Nevada, State Senator Pat Spearman, in Illinois, current Lt Governor Julianna Stratton and former Representative Steven Andersson, in Virginia legislators like Senator Jennifer McClellan and Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy—these names will be remembered with others as leaders who refused to take no for an answer, and brought us to this day when three fourths of the states have ratified the Equal Rights Amendment as required by the Constitution, a glorious day for women across America. 

It is time for equality. We have waited too long already for equal rights, and it is shameful that there are those who would have us wait a moment longer. We have been on the ERA journey for almost a century. Alice Paul’s idea to prohibit discrimination based on sex was a good idea in 1923 when it was first introduced in Congress. It was a good idea when it was passed by Congress in 1972. And it was still a good idea when it was ratified by Nevada in 2017, Illinois in 2018 and Virginia, the 38th state, on Monday January 27, 2020. The ERA is as American as apple pie, and ERA Coalition polling indicates says that 94 percent of Americans – and 99% of millennials – agree that the Constitution should be amended to include equal rights for women. 

Over the years we have made some progress, and we have built a strong women’s movement, as evidenced most recently by the #MeToo outcry, a wave of protest that highlights the fact that women are still second-class citizens in this country. It is time to put these days behind us, 100 years – a full century – after women got the right to vote.  We need the ERA because 80 per cent of our poor are women, trying to house and feed children; women are still woefully behind in pay and promotion, and inequality is a life or death issue on a daily basis as women in the home and workplace continue to fear sexual and physical assault with no recourse to federal courts because without the ERA there is no basis for such jurisdiction.  

Women were intentionally omitted from the Constitution when it was written, despite the fervent plea of Abigail Adams for our inclusion. Generation after generation of grandmothers, mothers, daughters, granddaughters have dreamed of fixing this shameful omission. That is what the ERA does for us, and we welcome this 28th Amendment to the Constitution. We are determined to see it through and we will never give up on an equal future. 

The ERA-NC Alliance reports: “The ERA Coalition, our national counterpart of which we are a Lead Organization, shared the following with us today:

“Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has announced that the House of Representatives plans to bring HJ Res 79, the bill to remove the deadline from the ERA, for a vote during the week of February 10^th. This vote is a testament to the decades of hard work done by our fearless leaders in the legislature – Rep. Jackie Speier, lead sponsor, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, longtime ERA champion, their staff and YOU! Please find the Dear Colleague announcing the vote … at this link: https://www.majorityleader.gov/content/dear-colleague-house-vote-iran-bills-credit-reporting-legislation-pro-act-puerto-rico.”

Excerpt from link:

Also that week [Feb. 10th], I expect to bring legislation to the Floor to remove the deadline for ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which would ensure the ERA can become part of our Constitution when it is ratified by a sufficient number of states.

Please share the information widely!

They will keep us apprised of any news on the specifics of the vote as they hear them.

The 4th annual women’s march in Black Mountain drew hundreds of women, girls and men. Girls age 7 to 15 organized the event and spoke on the need for the ERA and other issues.

See more photos from the Citizen Times here.

Jan 15, 2020 — New Cosponsors

S.J.Res. 6: A joint resolution removing the deadline for the ratification of the equal rights amendment.

New Cosponsor: Sen. Sherrod Brown [D-OH]

New Cosponsor: Sen. Doug Jones [D-AL]

New Cosponsor: Sen. Brian Schatz [D-HI]

The resolution now has 41 cosponsors (37 Democrats, 2 Republicans, 2 Independents).Trackers: Bill Search – “Equal Rights Amendment”.

JANUARY 14, 2020

“Congress certainly has the authority under Article V of the Constitution to set and change deadlines for the ratification of constitutional amendments, and has done so on numerous occasions. There is no reason to put a time limit on achieving equality under the law.”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)released the following joint statement in response to the recent opinion by the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) on the ongoing efforts in Congress and the states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Senators Cardin and Murkowski are the lead sponsors of S.J.Res 6, which would remove the deadline for ratification of the ERA.

“We disagree with the Justice Department’s opinion that states can no longer ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Congress certainly has the authority under Article V of the Constitution to set and change deadlines for the ratification of constitutional amendments, and has done so on numerous occasions. There is no reason to put a time limit on achieving equality under the law. We will continue to pursue our legislative efforts in the House and Senate to remove any legal ambiguities regarding the ERA ratification deadline. We encourage the states to complete the ratification process and make ERA part of the Constitution. As we near the centennial anniversary of adding women’s suffrage to the U.S. Constitution, let us finally prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in the U.S.”