Biden and Harris Declare the Equal Rights Amendment ‘the Law of the Land.’ It Isn’t.
18th January 2025
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris declared on Friday that the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is “the law of the land.” It isn’t, as Biden and Harris do not have the authority to approve constitutional amendments, their statements carry no legal weight, and the U.S. archivist tasked with certifying the amendment has repeatedly determined the ERA was not legally ratified.
Biden nonetheless tweeted that the ERA “is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex.” Harris followed suit hours later, tweeting, “The Equal Rights Amendment is the 28th Amendment, and it is the law of the land.”
Congress first introduced the amendment in 1923, though it didn’t gain steam until nearly five decades later. At that point, in 1972, lawmakers passed the amendment with the required two-thirds majority, sending it to the states, 38 of which needed to ratify it on a deadline first set at 7 years and later extended to 10 years.
That deadline came and went without the necessary support, prompting activists and lawmakers to concede defeat—until three states, Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia, voted to ratify the amendment more than 30 years later, in 2017, 2018, and 2020, respectively. While those votes pushed the number of states in support to 38, they did so well after the extended ratification deadline. Lawmakers in Nebraska, Tennessee, Idaho, Kentucky, and South Dakota, meanwhile, voted to rescind their support, prompting ERA advocates like former Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to say that the ratification process needed to start over.