Thank you. I'm already reading comments from naysayers who are complaining that he didn't do this (spend political capital when that was in short supply) years ago, or that he didn't give it to the archivist, or that he picked the wrong archivist. I'm SO DONE with political purists who never give President Biden credit for *anything* and who helped deny us President Harris because she wasn't good enough for them.
I understand. It is ratified, but not yet in it. Still a fight in front of us. Getting a bit tired of demanding it since the 70's. I'd like to finish out my life knowing freedom is equal for all finally in America.
Eyes that--at least for Dems--read or watched it on MSM. Because MSM was obediently parroting the initial lead of FOX News and RW media in demonizing it for anti-woke...reasons.
What is really so troubling is that getting thrown this scrap of a slim chance of equal rights should feel so empowering when we know the new administration is a male dominated backward thinking angry and elitist white boys school. It is possible btw to wish Biden could have done way, way more and still have championed for a Harris presidency.
Biden didn't do anything. He stated an opinion, nothing more. The ERA is not yet an amendment. That's not being a naysayer, it's a fact. Tribe is wrong. This article's conclusion is wrong. I can hardly believe he wrote it.
Thank you, President Biden! I remember as a woman in my 20s being absolutely devastated when the ERA was not ratified within the arbitrary timeframe that Congress had established. I am grateful to have lived to see its long overdue addition to The Constitution.
I agree. I marched for the ERA in the early 70’s. I am so happy about today’s announcement. I didn’t think that I would live to see this. It’s about time and in the nick of time!
WOW!!!!! I've been waiting almost 50 years, since my 20's, for this to happen. I was praying that President Biden would do it, before it was too late. I am SO happy, and relieved.
I have always felt that unless and until we had an ERA Amendment, any and all other quests for equal stature of any "minority" concerns under the law and Constitution would struggle to be seriously validated/considered! What a marvelous step forward that we can all stand ever so proudly for!! The future is ours!!
This is a good article from The Atlantic that discusses it.
I've included the historical part of it. I don't know what else Biden could have done, but the president has no role in making amendments law.
"In 2021, a federal judge dismissed a case brought by two states seeking to have the ERA recognized; two years later, an appellate court affirmed the ruling. Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a staunch supporter of the ERA, opposed the effort, saying in 2020 that advocates needed “to start over” because the deadline had elapsed. In 2021, the House passed a resolution to repeal the deadline, but it never cleared the Senate. And just last month, the archivist, Colleen Shogan, and the deputy archivist, William Bosanko, issued a statement saying that they could not legally publish the ERA, citing “established legal, judicial, and procedural decisions.”
As a last resort, ERA backers have urged Biden to simply instruct the archivist to publish it anyway. But the Constitution doesn’t afford the president any role in the amendment process; unlike regular laws, constitutional changes do not go to his desk for a signature or veto. And in his statement, Biden said nothing about the archivist or publishing the ERA. His declaration is likely to have neither force nor effect. Advocates might hope that a friendly federal judge would accept the presidential statement as a formal recognition of the ERA in a case that makes a legal claim under its auspices. But the conservative-dominated Supreme Court would almost certainly shoot down such a ruling."
"Still, Biden’s declaration won praise from Democrats this morning. Hillary Clinton, for one, said she was “thrilled.” But it will likely have no more significance than the farewell address he delivered on Wednesday. It is an affirmation of values, an aspirational statement for posterity, but not an actual decree.
As attempts to change the Constitution go, this was pretty half-hearted. By noon, a community note had been added to his X post, as if to underscore the point: “There is no 28th Amendment.”
It was a head fake and I think Biden wants credit for something but he won't get it from me. As far as I know he did nothing to pursue this.
Great to see Biden playing politics, not just governing. The Republicans are left with putting another nail in the palms of women, nailing them to a cross, and taking away more freedom, more rights when they challenge passage.
Trump’s Treasury Nominee said yesterday that nothing is more important than passing tax cuts. He also said there would be no increase to the Minimum Wage that has been unchanged since 2009. That seems an easy target for Dems to attack.
Sen. Tubberville just said CA doesn’t deserve to be bailed out by other states. CA has a balance of payments TO the federal government of $84B. Tubberville’s state, AL, has a a balance of payments FROM the federal government of $68B. That’s a difference of $152B. Again, another chance to point out the abject hypocrisy and to educate the public.
We need people in congress and at the state levels who aren't constrained by obsolete "norms". This is a new era that demands new strategies and tactical approaches. Accepting any of the nonsense the republican party is trying to shove through is absurd. Tubberville's rhetoric, like trump's is an attempt to further divide and incite civil wars.
I would love to see Pete Buttigieg organize and unite a resistance movement. He's intelligent, eloquent, articulate with impeccable integrity. I would march beside him any day.
Within the confines of the law, we must strategize short term and long term goals. We’re behind the curve significantly due to the decades of strategizing and implementation of gerrymandering, grooming jurists and state level politics by the Heritage Foundation. There has to be a serious sense of urgency. Right now, today, call, e-mail and write to your representatives to express that urgency. Tell them it’s their duty to push back and start honoring the oath they took.
The legal battle will take time, and I hope in the interim, women everywhere will show up for the 2026 election to get people in Congress who will stand up for us and defend our rights.
"After careful consideration and consultation with constitutional experts, President Biden – like the American Bar Association last year – concluded that the ERA had met all the requirements for inclusion in the Constitution. He decided that the Oath of Office he took upon assuming the presidency – the Oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” – meant that he should formally announce that conclusion to the world."
The ERA was not ratified. The expiration date was one issue, also the fact that 5 states have de-certified, and the president does not decree amendments. The ABA does not determine amendments either. This is just an opinion of Biden's that carries no legal weight. He could have asked the archivist to publish and he didn't. So he didn't even do the minimum.
The article explains this quite well, I think, and there is no such thing as "de-certification" apparently. Having the archivist publish does not seem to be required either. Legal challenges are what are needed, it seems to cement this, or not. Will the courts create the existence of "decertification" and allow for timelines not in existence in the Constitution? Otherwise, you an I are arguing over things not yet established.
In 1975, in a sociology class, I sat next to a student who told me she hoped the ERA would not pass because, "I don't want to go to the bathroom with boys." I was appalled that, 1) anyone would be that stupid to think that's what the ERA was about; and 2) the university had admitted her.
Well, didn't I have a lot to learn? Anyway, hurray!
Thank you. I'm already reading comments from naysayers who are complaining that he didn't do this (spend political capital when that was in short supply) years ago, or that he didn't give it to the archivist, or that he picked the wrong archivist. I'm SO DONE with political purists who never give President Biden credit for *anything* and who helped deny us President Harris because she wasn't good enough for them.
I agree. And it's finally in our Constitution that we are not less than according to the law anymore!
No, that's not true. It's not in the Constitution. Tribe is wrong.
I understand. It is ratified, but not yet in it. Still a fight in front of us. Getting a bit tired of demanding it since the 70's. I'd like to finish out my life knowing freedom is equal for all finally in America.
Better late than never, I say.
Interesting. I just picked up my grand daughter from college and gave her the great news. After fist bumps and cheers she Said exactly the same thing.
Here here Laurie!
Exactly. Harris was the right person. Women of America let's Unite. Enough with white male supremacists.
I agree wholeheartedly. Biden ALWAYS makes a mistake or worse in everything he does in majority of Americans' eyes.
Eyes that--at least for Dems--read or watched it on MSM. Because MSM was obediently parroting the initial lead of FOX News and RW media in demonizing it for anti-woke...reasons.
What is really so troubling is that getting thrown this scrap of a slim chance of equal rights should feel so empowering when we know the new administration is a male dominated backward thinking angry and elitist white boys school. It is possible btw to wish Biden could have done way, way more and still have championed for a Harris presidency.
Biden didn't do anything. He stated an opinion, nothing more. The ERA is not yet an amendment. That's not being a naysayer, it's a fact. Tribe is wrong. This article's conclusion is wrong. I can hardly believe he wrote it.
I think tribe knows a little bit more about the law than you do
I totally agree with you!!
Thank you Professor Tribe the Contrarian! This is HUGE and the mainstream media is focused on other things today!
And Prof. Sullivan -- who, among many other things, carries on and updates the important work of the late Prof. Gerald Gunther.
And I first heard it here.👀🎶👍😃
It would be huge if it was true. Unfortunately it's not.
FINALLY. A hallelujah moment just ahead of the worst person on earth's inauguration. He can pound sand.
Thank you, President Biden! I remember as a woman in my 20s being absolutely devastated when the ERA was not ratified within the arbitrary timeframe that Congress had established. I am grateful to have lived to see its long overdue addition to The Constitution.
I agree. I marched for the ERA in the early 70’s. I am so happy about today’s announcement. I didn’t think that I would live to see this. It’s about time and in the nick of time!
I did too!! Today is wonderful!!❤️💜💙💗🖤💛💚🤎🩶🩵
WOW!!!!! I've been waiting almost 50 years, since my 20's, for this to happen. I was praying that President Biden would do it, before it was too late. I am SO happy, and relieved.
I have always felt that unless and until we had an ERA Amendment, any and all other quests for equal stature of any "minority" concerns under the law and Constitution would struggle to be seriously validated/considered! What a marvelous step forward that we can all stand ever so proudly for!! The future is ours!!
What is it you think Biden did?
I thought it made it law. Apparently, it did nothing. WHY didn't he do this years ago?? Would that have made a difference, do you know?
This is a good article from The Atlantic that discusses it.
I've included the historical part of it. I don't know what else Biden could have done, but the president has no role in making amendments law.
"In 2021, a federal judge dismissed a case brought by two states seeking to have the ERA recognized; two years later, an appellate court affirmed the ruling. Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a staunch supporter of the ERA, opposed the effort, saying in 2020 that advocates needed “to start over” because the deadline had elapsed. In 2021, the House passed a resolution to repeal the deadline, but it never cleared the Senate. And just last month, the archivist, Colleen Shogan, and the deputy archivist, William Bosanko, issued a statement saying that they could not legally publish the ERA, citing “established legal, judicial, and procedural decisions.”
As a last resort, ERA backers have urged Biden to simply instruct the archivist to publish it anyway. But the Constitution doesn’t afford the president any role in the amendment process; unlike regular laws, constitutional changes do not go to his desk for a signature or veto. And in his statement, Biden said nothing about the archivist or publishing the ERA. His declaration is likely to have neither force nor effect. Advocates might hope that a friendly federal judge would accept the presidential statement as a formal recognition of the ERA in a case that makes a legal claim under its auspices. But the conservative-dominated Supreme Court would almost certainly shoot down such a ruling."
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/01/biden-equal-rights-amendment/681358/
"Still, Biden’s declaration won praise from Democrats this morning. Hillary Clinton, for one, said she was “thrilled.” But it will likely have no more significance than the farewell address he delivered on Wednesday. It is an affirmation of values, an aspirational statement for posterity, but not an actual decree.
As attempts to change the Constitution go, this was pretty half-hearted. By noon, a community note had been added to his X post, as if to underscore the point: “There is no 28th Amendment.”
It was a head fake and I think Biden wants credit for something but he won't get it from me. As far as I know he did nothing to pursue this.
Thanks very much for this information!
Thank you Mr President 💙💙💙💙💙👏👏👏👏🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Tell the truth and shame the Republican devils
Great to see Biden playing politics, not just governing. The Republicans are left with putting another nail in the palms of women, nailing them to a cross, and taking away more freedom, more rights when they challenge passage.
Trump’s Treasury Nominee said yesterday that nothing is more important than passing tax cuts. He also said there would be no increase to the Minimum Wage that has been unchanged since 2009. That seems an easy target for Dems to attack.
Sen. Tubberville just said CA doesn’t deserve to be bailed out by other states. CA has a balance of payments TO the federal government of $84B. Tubberville’s state, AL, has a a balance of payments FROM the federal government of $68B. That’s a difference of $152B. Again, another chance to point out the abject hypocrisy and to educate the public.
Stop playing by Marquis de Queensberry rules.
We need people in congress and at the state levels who aren't constrained by obsolete "norms". This is a new era that demands new strategies and tactical approaches. Accepting any of the nonsense the republican party is trying to shove through is absurd. Tubberville's rhetoric, like trump's is an attempt to further divide and incite civil wars.
I would love to see Pete Buttigieg organize and unite a resistance movement. He's intelligent, eloquent, articulate with impeccable integrity. I would march beside him any day.
Time to fight dirty!
We do not have to fight dirty. We do have to fight strategically and be willing to play the long game.
Within the confines of the law, we must strategize short term and long term goals. We’re behind the curve significantly due to the decades of strategizing and implementation of gerrymandering, grooming jurists and state level politics by the Heritage Foundation. There has to be a serious sense of urgency. Right now, today, call, e-mail and write to your representatives to express that urgency. Tell them it’s their duty to push back and start honoring the oath they took.
Absolutely not! We can continue to fight fairly and still "win" for all!
Wow I am Gobsmacked. Yay! President Biden. Rock on
Finally, the ERA is law! Another of Biden's many great deeds accomplished.
It's not, not yet.
Bravo!! Long overdue. I'll bet Drumpf tries to overturn it.
He won't be able to, but chances are he won't obey it.
You're right, of course, Celeste. You're also right that he won't obey or support it.
He will surely try. Get the popcorn ready, there will be a big legal fight.
The legal battle will take time, and I hope in the interim, women everywhere will show up for the 2026 election to get people in Congress who will stand up for us and defend our rights.
Now we need to work on having the same rite to our body as men have to theirs...eg. fixing bent carrot disease
According to the latest constitutional amendment. we ought to be able to safeguard our reproductive rights, or deny men theirs...pick one!
an interesting thought. I think men should be denied theirs...just long enough to know what it feels like.
yes! i am hoping women, organizers, groups, states use this amendment to push for our rights to our own bodies. this could be the next step we needed.
How 'bout both? Maybe that would reduce the number of rapes and molestations that men inflict on women and girls.
can't we have both ?
The ERA does THAT?!!
key wording, ought to be able
Praying hands! (I don't know how to do emojis here.)
"After careful consideration and consultation with constitutional experts, President Biden – like the American Bar Association last year – concluded that the ERA had met all the requirements for inclusion in the Constitution. He decided that the Oath of Office he took upon assuming the presidency – the Oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” – meant that he should formally announce that conclusion to the world."
Wow!
Happy day!
Unfortunately this is not how ratifying an amendment to the Constitution works.
There was more in the article above. It had been ratified prior, there was simply a timing issue, which was not really an issue.
The ERA was not ratified. The expiration date was one issue, also the fact that 5 states have de-certified, and the president does not decree amendments. The ABA does not determine amendments either. This is just an opinion of Biden's that carries no legal weight. He could have asked the archivist to publish and he didn't. So he didn't even do the minimum.
The article explains this quite well, I think, and there is no such thing as "de-certification" apparently. Having the archivist publish does not seem to be required either. Legal challenges are what are needed, it seems to cement this, or not. Will the courts create the existence of "decertification" and allow for timelines not in existence in the Constitution? Otherwise, you an I are arguing over things not yet established.
YES!!!
This is excellent news! Better late than never!
Thank you President Biden!!!
Tears of joy.
In 1975, in a sociology class, I sat next to a student who told me she hoped the ERA would not pass because, "I don't want to go to the bathroom with boys." I was appalled that, 1) anyone would be that stupid to think that's what the ERA was about; and 2) the university had admitted her.
Well, didn't I have a lot to learn? Anyway, hurray!