Attorney General Mark R. Herring released the below statement following the U.S. House of Representatives vote to lift the arbitrary deadline on the Equal Rights Ability:
“We cannot continue to force the women of this country to wait any longer to be given equal protections under the U.S. Constitution and today’s vote will help clear up any ambiguity surrounding recent ratifications of the Equal Rights Amendment,” said Attorney General Herring. “While I have never believed that the ratification deadline on the ERA was binding in the first place, I welcome this move from the House to ensure that it is recognized as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. Women deserve guaranteed equal rights in this country and I remain as committed as ever to seeing this fight through to the end and making sure that women’s equality is enshrined in the Constitution.”
On January 30, 2020, Attorney General Herring sued to ensure that the Equal Rights Amendment was recognized as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, following Virginia’s ratification of the ERA. In May of last year, the Trump Administration filed a motion to dismiss Attorney General Herring’s lawsuit, seeking to block gender equality from being added to the Constitution. In June, Attorney General Herring filed a brief opposing the Trump Administration’s motion to dismiss his lawsuit. Also last year, Attorney General Herring moved for summary judgment in his landmark civil rights lawsuit, as well as filed a brief opposing the intervening states’ (Alabama, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Tennessee) motion for summary judgment.
