Download Senate Letter

Download House Letter

The Senate and House letters on removing the ratification deadline on the Equal Rights Amendment are identical.

ERA SENATE LETTER
As voters in your district, we ask you to co-sponsor SJ Res 6 - Remove the Deadline from the Equal Rights Amendment (Cardin - Maryland). Congress should act promptly to eliminate the deadline included in the resolution clause proposing the Equal Rights Amendment. Congress should never have imposed a limitation on ratification of an amendment enshrining a fundamental and enduring right into the Constitution.

Equality is not a partisan issue. Those who would seek to hide behind procedural devices such as the ratification deadline are on the wrong side of history. As a colleague so aptly observed, “Nobody brags about their great-grandparents working in opposition to the 19^th Amendment.

Removing the deadline provides an opportunity to accomplish the will of the vast majority of your constituents and allow the democratic process to amend the Constitution to embody today’s understanding of basic human rights - all people are entitled to equality of rights under the law, regardless of sex.

The ERA is needed to assure that gender equality is recognized as a fundamental, irrevocable right protected by the highest law of the land. Ratification would have three immediate effects:

• First, it would establish that gender equality under the law is a fundamental and irrevocable tenet of our society,
• Second, it would require all judges to apply the highest standard of scrutiny when deciding cases involving sex discrimination. This means judges would use the same standard of review in sex discrimination cases that they now use in deciding cases involving discrimination based on race, religion and national origin,
• Third, it would protect and reinvigorate enforcement of existing gender equity laws.

Interest and support for removing the deadline and completing ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment is strong and growing. On April 30^th the House Judiciary Committee held a packed hearing on the Equal Rights Amendment. We are encouraged that Nevada and Illinois have recently ratified the ERA because it signals a renewed nationwide recognition of the need for the Equal Rights Amendment and the public’s determination to transform legislators’ verbal support for equal rights into votes for ratification. In the upcoming 2020 legislative session, Virginia will again introduce legislation to become the 38^th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

ERA HOUSE LETTER
As voters in your district, we ask you to co-sponsor HJ Res 38 - Remove the Deadline from the Equal Rights Amendment (Speier - CA14). Congress should act promptly to eliminate the deadline included in the resolution clause proposing the Equal Rights Amendment. Congress should never have imposed a limitation on ratification of an amendment enshrining a fundamental and enduring right into the Constitution.

Equality is not a partisan issue. Those who would seek to hide behind procedural devices such as the ratification deadline are on the wrong side of history. As a colleague so aptly observed, “Nobody brags about their great-grandparents working in opposition to the 19th Amendment.

Removing the deadline provides an opportunity to accomplish the will of the vast majority of your constituents and allow the democratic process to amend the Constitution to embody today’s understanding of basic human rights - all people are entitled to equality of rights under the law, regardless of sex.

The ERA is needed to assure that gender equality is recognized as a fundamental, irrevocable right protected by the highest law of the land. Ratification would have three immediate effects:

• First, it would establish that gender equality under the law is a fundamental and irrevocable tenet of our society,
• Second, it would require all judges to apply the highest standard of scrutiny when deciding cases involving sex discrimination. This means judges would use the same standard of review in sex discrimination cases that they now use in deciding cases involving discrimination based on race, religion and national origin,
• Third, it would protect and reinvigorate enforcement of existing gender equity laws.

Interest and support for removing the deadline and completing ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment is strong and growing. On April 30th the House Judiciary Committee held a packed hearing on the Equal Rights Amendment. We are encouraged that Nevada and Illinois have recently ratified the ERA because it signals a renewed nationwide recognition of the need for the Equal Rights Amendment and the public’s determination to transform legislators’ verbal support for equal rights into votes for ratification. In the upcoming 2020 legislative session, Virginia will again introduce legislation to become the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.