VIRGINIA AG MOVES TO WITHDRAW FROM ERA SUIT

State’s legislature ratified amendment long after deadline

Republican Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares moved Friday to withdraw the state from a lawsuit that seeks to force the federal government to recognize Virginia’s 2020 vote to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and add the text to the Constitution.

In a court filing, Miyares asked that the commonwealth be dismissed as a party to the lawsuit, which was initiated by his Democratic predecessor and is on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Miyares, who took office Jan. 15, has reconsidered Virginia’s position and is of the view that a district court previously correctly dismissed the suit, the filing said.

Former Attorney General Mark Herring and two other Democratic attorneys general initially brought the lawsuit in January 2020, days after Virginia’s legislature voted to make the Commonwealth the critical 38th state to ratify the amendment. The vote came after years of efforts by advocates who argued the amendment would guarantee women equal rights under the law. Miyares, then a member of the House of Delegates, voted against ratification.

Constitutional amendments must be ratified by three-quarters of the states, or 38. But, complicating the matter, Congress enacted a ratification deadline for the ERA that passed decades ago. A number of states have also moved to rescind their ratifications.

After Virginia’s 2020 vote, the Trump Justice Department issued a legal memo concluding that because the deadline had expired, it was too late for states to ratify.

The only option for supporters was to begin the process all over again in Congress, the department said at the time.

The National Archives, which certifies the ratification of constitutional amendments, said it would abide by that opinion “unless otherwise directed by a final court order.”

Nevada and Illinois, which were the 36th and 37th states to ratify the amendment, then joined Virginia in suing the archivist.

In March 2021, a district court judge appointed by former President Barack Obama granted a request by President Donald Trump’s administration and a group of Republican attorneys general to dismiss the lawsuit.

The plaintiff states appealed, filing an opening brief in January.

Victoria Lacivita, a Miyares spokeswoman, said in a statement Friday that “any further participation in this lawsuit would undermine the U.S. Constitution and its amendment process.”

She cited not only the March 2021 ruling but also a Jan. 26 memo from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which did not back away from the previous finding that the ratification deadline had passed.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said in a statement that his office would continue its appeal. A spokesperson for Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Friday.

Advocates say the Equal Rights Amendment — which was initially proposed in Congress in 1923 and passed in 1972 — would enshrine equality for women in the Constitution, offering stronger protections in sex discrimination cases and giving Congress firmer ground to pass anti-discrimination laws. Opponents warn it would erode commonsense protections for women, such as workplace accommodations during pregnancy, and could be used to support abortion rights.