3 Democratic attorneys general sue for ERA ratification

RICHMOND, Va. — Three Democratic state attorneys general are suing a U.S. government official to force him to recognize Virginia’s vote this week to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and certify the measure as part of the Constitution.

The lawsuit filed Thursday against the archivist of the U.S. comes after the National Archives and Records Administration said this week that David Ferriero would “take no action to certify the adoption of the Equal Rights Amendment,” which would prohibit discrimination based on sex.

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring is partnering with Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Before Virginia’s vote this week that made it the critical 38th state to approve the ERA, Nevada in 2017 and Illinois in 2018 were the most recent to ratify the amendment.

The attorneys general argue that U.S. laws do not give the archivist the power to decide whether to certify an amendment.

The U.S. Constitution says amendments can be proposed by Congress with a twothirds vote in the House and Senate or by a constitutional convention called by state legislatures. Ratification is then required by the legislatures of threequarters of the states, or 38.

But the fate of the ERA has been in question because of a 1979 deadline that Congress enacted and later extended to 1982. Thirtyfive states ratified the ERA by 1977. No others joined by the 1982 cutoff.

The archives said it was following advice from the U.S. Department of Justice, which issued an opinion this month saying it was too late for states to certify the ERA.