Biden Says He Ratified New Constitutional Amendment, Despite Opposition

The president declared that the amendment ‘is the law of the land,’ though it’s unclear the practical impact of this declaration.

President Joe Biden speaks during a press conference with Kenyan President William Ruto at the White House in Washington on May 23, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

President Joe Biden on Jan. 17 announced that the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is the “law of the land,” despite the U.S. archivist recently saying the president could not ratify the constitutional amendment.

“It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people,” Biden said in a statement. “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.”

Biden pointed to how Virginia in 2020 became the 38th state to ratify the ERA, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender.

The U.S. archivist and U.S. deputy archivist said in late 2024 that the president could not ratify the amendment because the amendment did not receive the required support from three-fourths of the states by the deadline Congress imposed, which was June 30, 1982.

The Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel in 2020, while Donald Trump was president, and in 2022, after Biden took office, also said that ratification cannot occur unless Congress or the courts extend or remove the ratification deadline.

However, the American Bar Association (ABA) is among the organizations that have offered a different view: that Virginia’s ratification was sufficient to meet the three-quarters requirement, and the deadline is not relevant.

“I agree with the ABA and with leading legal constitutional scholars that the Equal Rights Amendment has become part of our Constitution,” Biden said.

A spokesperson for the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, which is headed by the archivist, told The Epoch Times in an email that the position outlined by Archivist Colleen Shogan and the deputy archivist remains the same.

“This is a long-standing position for the Archivist and the National Archives. The underlying legal and procedural issues have not changed,” the spokesperson said.

Democrat lawmakers had been urging Biden to ratify the amendment and expressed support after his announcement on Friday.

“The President is right: the Equal Rights Amendment is the law of the land. Today is one step closer to full dignity for women and every American,” Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) said in a post on social media platform X.

Republicans had called on Biden not to ratify the amendment.

“The ERA of 1972 failed to gain the necessary support from the states before its deadline, and no court has since held that the deadline can be retroactively disregarded,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall told Biden in a recent letter.

The U.S. Constitution states that an amendment can be proposed by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress or if two-thirds of states request one in a special convention. The proposed amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of states.

Some lawmakers have proposed waiving the deadline, but none of those proposals have passed. There is no precedent for waiving such a deadline after it has passed, according to New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice.

The courts could end up deciding the matter, Brennan Center experts said.

The last amendment to the Constitution was ratified by enough states in 1992 that the archivist at the time certified the ratification, and Congress then approved the amendment.

Correction: A previous article misidentified Rep. Mark Takano’s political party. The Epoch Times regrets the error.