Biden claims Equal Rights Amendment is ‘law of the land’ after decades-long ratification fight
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Biden’s statement has no legal force and a White House official said courts would have to decide whether the amendment is a valid part of America’s constitution. Joe Biden is claiming to recognize a new constitutional amendment to enshrine protections against sex discrimination, but it’s unclear whether the president intends to take any action to publish it before Donald Trump enters office.
![[Dozens of supporters and opponents of the Minnesota Equal Rights Amendment legislation hold signs at a rally]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/05/14/06/Equal_Rights_Amendment-Minnesota_12751.jpg)
The Equal Rights Amendment — which would become the nation’s 28th constitutional amendment — would explicitly protect Americans from discrimination on the basis of sex, which advocates argue could provide firm constitutional basis to overturn state-level anti-abortion laws in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision to overturn Roe v Wade.
![[Virginia state Sen. Jennifer McClellan speaks in support for the Equal Rights Amendment to be added to the U.S. Constitution]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/12/22/10/Special_Election_Virginia_87980.jpg)
In a statement released by the White House on Friday, Biden said he agrees with the American Bar Association and a host of legal scholars who say the Virginia legislature’s act to ratify the ERA in 2020 — the 38th state legislature to do so — means that the proposed amendment has met the threshold needed for it to be officially recognized as part of the constitution.
Biden, who noted that he has “long been clear that no one should be discriminated against based on their sex” and stressed that he’s supported the effort to amend the constitution to prohibit such discrimination for over a half-century, said the United States “must affirm and protect women’s full equality once and for all.”.
“It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people,” he said. “In keeping with my oath and duty to Constitution and country, I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: the 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex.”.
