Equal Rights Amendment and Why It Is Stuck

What is the Equal Rights Amendment?

To see how the ERA can have 38 ratifications and still not be in force, start with how an amendment becomes part of the Constitution.

How an Amendment Becomes Law

Article V of the Constitution sets the process. Every amendment so far was proposed by two-thirds of both houses of Congress, then ratified by three-fourths of the states, which today means 38 of 50.

The ERA cleared the first step in 1972 and reached 38 states in 2020. Supporters argue that, on the plain text of Article V, that finished the job.

The complication is a deadline. When Congress proposed the ERA, it added a seven-year window for the states to ratify, set to expire on March 22, 1979. That deadline did not appear in the amendment’s own text. It sat in the resolution’s proposing clause, the introductory language that sent the amendment to the states.

So the ERA raises a question the Founders never answered. Can Congress attach an expiration date to a constitutional amendment, and if it can, does that date override the three-fourths rule when a state ratifies late? Article V says nothing about deadlines, rescissions, or extensions.

Is the ERA the 28th Amendment?

There is no 28th Amendment in force yet. The Constitution has 27, and the ERA is the leading candidate to be the 28th. It is not the 28th in any enforceable sense, and that is the heart of the dispute. Thirty-eight states have ratified the ERA, but no court has ordered it published, no Archivist has published it, and no court has applied it as constitutional text.

Two offices gave two answers. In December 2024 the Archivist of the United States, the official who records new amendments, said the ERA “cannot be certified” because the deadline is valid. In January 2025 President Biden said the ERA “has become part of our Constitution” and that “the 28th amendment is the law of the land.” The Archivist has not published it.

The gap matters because of two words, ratified and certified, that people treat as if they mean the same thing.

Supporters argue the Archivist’s signature is paperwork, not the source of an amendment’s authority, so the ERA is already the 28th Amendment and the publication is overdue. Opponents argue the 38th ratification came years after the deadline, so there is nothing valid to publish. The Supreme Court has not decided it on the merits. One federal appeals court has sided with the deadline. On November 4, 2025, a unanimous Ninth Circuit panel rejected a challenge to male-only draft registration in Valame v. Trump, holding that the ERA “was not ratified by three-fourths of the States prior to the deadline set by Congress” (opinion). On June 22, 2026, the Supreme Court denied review without comment (docket 25-1259), which leaves the ruling in place but sets no national precedent.

The 1923 to 2026 Saga

The ERA’s path runs across a century. Alice Paul wrote it in 1923, and Congress passed it in 1972. It stalled at 35 states by 1977, and a 1978 extension ran out in 1982. Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia revived it from 2017 to 2020, and the standoff with the Archivist has run ever since, through court rulings against it in 2025 and 2026.

1. 1923 Alice Paul writes the ERA Introduced in Congress three years after the 19th Amendment gave women the vote.
2. Mar 1972 Congress passes it with a 7-year deadline House 354-24 (1971), Senate 84-8 (1972). The deadline sits in the preamble.
3. 1977 35 states ratify, then the wall Indiana is the 35th, three short of 38.
4. 1978 Congress extends the deadline to 1982 No new state ratifies in the extension window. By 1979, five states have voted to withdraw.
5. Jun 1982 Deadline passes, three states short No state ratifies again until 2017.
6. 2017-20 Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia ratify Virginia becomes the 38th state in January 2020, decades past the deadline.
7. 2020-23 The Archivist refuses; courts dismiss the suit A January 2020 DOJ opinion calls the ERA expired; the D.C. Circuit affirms dismissal in 2023. (source)
8. 2025-26 Biden declares it; courts rule against it Biden calls it the 28th amendment in January 2025. The Ninth Circuit rules it missed the deadline that November, and the Supreme Court declines review in June 2026. (source)

Sources: Congressional Research Service; National Archives; Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel; National Constitution Center.

From Alice Paul to the Archivist Standoff, 1923 to 2026: 1923: Alice Paul writes the ERA (Introduced in Congress three years after the 19th Amendment gave women the vote.). Mar 1972: Congress passes it with a 7-year deadline (House 354-24 (1971), Senate 84-8 (1972). The deadline sits in the preamble.). 1977: 35 states ratify, then the wall (Indiana is the 35th, three short of 38.). 1978: Congress extends the deadline to 1982 (No new state ratifies in the extension window. By 1979, five states have voted to withdraw.). Jun 1982: Deadline passes, three states short (No state ratifies again until 2017.). 2017-20: Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia ratify (Virginia becomes the 38th state in January 2020, decades past the deadline.). 2020-23: The Archivist refuses; courts dismiss the suit (A January 2020 DOJ opinion calls the ERA expired; the D.C. Circuit affirms dismissal in 2023.). 2025-26: Biden declares it; courts rule against it (Biden calls it the 28th amendment in January 2025. The Ninth Circuit rules it missed the deadline that November, and the Supreme Court declines review in June 2026.).

1923: Alice Paul, who had helped win the 19th Amendment, drafted the ERA, and it was introduced in the House on December 13. Some version of it was introduced in every session of Congress until 1971 (National Archives).

March 1972: Congress finally passed it. The House voted 354-24 for Rep. Martha Griffiths’s version on October 12, 1971, and the Senate voted 84-8 on March 22, 1972 (National Archives). It went to the states with a seven-year clock.

1977: Twenty-two states ratified in 1972 and eight more in 1973. Indiana became the 35th in 1977 (Justice Department). Then it stalled three states short.

1978: Congress extended the deadline to June 30, 1982. No state ratified during the extension. By 1979, five states that had already said yes had voted to take it back, South Dakota only on the condition that 38 states had not ratified by the original deadline.

June 1982: The deadline expired with the ERA stuck at 35 of 38. For 35 years, it stayed there.

2017 to 2020: Nevada (March 2017), Illinois (May 2018), and Virginia (January 2020) ratified in quick succession, pushing the total to 38, the exact number Article V requires.

2020 to 2023: In January 2020 the Trump-era Justice Department issued an opinion declaring the ERA expired. The Archivist refused to publish it. Virginia, Illinois, and Nevada sued, and in 2023 the D.C. Circuit upheld the dismissal of their case.

2025 to 2026: In January 2025, President Biden declared the ERA ratified. Archivist Colleen Shogan’s December 2024 statement that it could not be certified stood, and her tenure ended on February 7, 2025 (National Archives). In November 2025 the Ninth Circuit ruled in Valame v. Trump that the ERA was not ratified before the deadline, and in June 2026 the Supreme Court declined to review that ruling.

Why Did the Equal Rights Amendment Fail?

The ERA stalled at 35 of the 38 states it needed by 1977, five of those states voted to withdraw, and the extended deadline ran out in 1982. The Brennan Center says momentum slowed after the first year as “conservative activists allied with the emerging religious right launched a campaign to stop the amendment in its tracks.” Phyllis Schlafly, a conservative lawyer from Illinois, led that campaign, STOP ERA, short for “Stop Taking Our Privileges” (National Women’s History Museum).

Schlafly argued the ERA would take away what she saw as privileges women then had: exemption from the military draft, the “dependent wife” Social Security benefits for widows, and the preference mothers got in custody fights. The Brennan Center adds that she warned of gender-neutral bathrooms, same-sex marriage, and women in combat.

The museum estimates her coalition at about 20,000 people and says she kept it focused on defeating the amendment, down to delivering homemade bread to lawmakers. Support eroded, the Brennan Center says, “particularly among Republicans,” though the GOP had been the first party to endorse the ERA, in 1940. Supporters countered that those “privileges” were the flip side of being treated as legal dependents rather than equals.

Which States Ratified the ERA

Whether the ERA counts as ratified depends on which states you count and when. Thirty-eight have voted yes in total, but 3 of them ratified after the deadline and 5 others tried to take their yes back. The map sorts every state into those four groups.

How each state voted on the federal ERA

• Ratified by the deadline (30 states)
• Ratified after the deadline (3 states)
• Ratified, then voted to withdraw (5 states)
• Never ratified (12 states)

30 + 3 + 5 = 38 ratifications. Whether the 3 late ratifications and the 5 withdrawals count is the legal dispute.

Sources: Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel, Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (January 6, 2020), footnotes 6-8; Congressional Research Service, R42979 (Nevada 2017, Illinois 2018); Brennan Center, The Equal Rights Amendment Explained; Brennan Center, State-Level Equal Rights Amendments (updated October 5, 2026). Verified October 15, 2026.

State Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment

State	Status	Detail
Alaska	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Alabama	Never ratified	Later sued to block ERA certification.
Arkansas	Never ratified	One of the 12 states that never voted to ratify.
Arizona	Never ratified	One of the 12 states that never voted to ratify.
California	Ratified by the deadline	Its constitution has barred sex discrimination in employment since a 1974 amendment.
Colorado	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Connecticut	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Delaware	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Florida	Never ratified	Never ratified the federal ERA, but voters added a state equal-rights clause in 1998.
Georgia	Never ratified	One of the 12 states that never voted to ratify.
Hawaii	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Iowa	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Idaho	Ratified, then voted to withdraw	Voted yes, then voted to withdraw in 1977. Whether a state can rescind is legally unsettled.
Illinois	Ratified after the deadline	The 37th state, in 2018. Disputed because the deadline had passed.
Indiana	Ratified by the deadline	The 35th and last state to ratify within the window, in 1977.
Kansas	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Kentucky	Ratified, then voted to withdraw	Voted yes, then voted to withdraw in 1978. Rescission validity is disputed.
Louisiana	Never ratified	Later sued to block ERA certification.
Massachusetts	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Maryland	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Maine	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Michigan	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Minnesota	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Missouri	Never ratified	One of the 12 states that never voted to ratify.
Mississippi	Never ratified	One of the 12 states that never voted to ratify.
Montana	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
North Carolina	Never ratified	One of the 12 states that never voted to ratify.
North Dakota	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Nebraska	Ratified, then voted to withdraw	The first to rescind, in 1973. Article V is silent on whether that counts.
New Hampshire	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
New Jersey	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
New Mexico	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Nevada	Ratified after the deadline	The 36th state, in 2017, 45 years to the day after Congress passed the ERA. Disputed because the 1982 deadline had passed.
New York	Ratified by the deadline	Voters added a broad state equal-rights amendment (Proposal 1) in November 2024.
Ohio	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Oklahoma	Never ratified	One of the 12 states that never voted to ratify.
Oregon	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Pennsylvania	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Rhode Island	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
South Carolina	Never ratified	One of the 12 states that never voted to ratify.
South Dakota	Ratified, then voted to withdraw	Passed a 1979 resolution withdrawing its ratification if 38 states had not ratified by the original deadline. Later sued to block certification.
Tennessee	Ratified, then voted to withdraw	Voted to withdraw in 1974. Rescission validity is disputed.
Texas	Ratified by the deadline	Ratified in 1972, one of the early Southern yes votes.
Utah	Never ratified	Never ratified the federal ERA, though it added an equal-rights clause to its own constitution in 1896.
Virginia	Ratified after the deadline	The 38th and decisive state, in 2020. Hit the Article V number, but decades late.
Vermont	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Washington	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Wisconsin	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
West Virginia	Ratified by the deadline	One of the 30 states whose ratification before the deadline was never withdrawn.
Wyoming	Ratified by the deadline	Put an equal-rights clause in its state constitution back in 1890.

The map shows why the count is contested. If the 5 rescissions are valid, the ERA is at 33 states and never crossed the line. If they are invalid, and the 3 late ratifications count, the ERA is at 38 and is finished. The legal fight is a fight over which of those colors you are allowed to count.

The Archivist Standoff

An amendment normally becomes official through a quiet step: the Archivist of the United States certifies that the states ratified it and publishes it. With the ERA, that step has become the whole battle.

On January 6, 2020, as Virginia’s legislature prepared to ratify, the Trump Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) concluded that the deadline was valid and that the ERA “has failed of adoption and is no longer pending before the States” (OLC opinion). Archivist David Ferriero said on January 8, 2020 that he “defers to DOJ on this issue and will abide by the OLC opinion, unless otherwise directed by a final court order,” as the joint stipulation quotes him. In January 2022 the Biden Justice Department added that the 2020 opinion “is not an obstacle” to Congress acting or to courts deciding the question, without withdrawing it.

Three states, Alabama, Louisiana, and South Dakota, sued to block certification. They dropped the case under a February 27, 2020 agreement: if the Justice Department ever concludes the ERA is still pending, the Archivist will make no certification “until at least 45 days following the announcement of the Department of Justice’s conclusion,” unless a court orders it sooner (joint stipulation).

The states that had ratified sued from the other direction. Virginia, Illinois, and Nevada asked a court to force the Archivist to publish, and a district court dismissed the suit. Illinois and Nevada appealed. On February 28, 2023, in Illinois v. Ferriero, a unanimous D.C. Circuit panel affirmed because the states failed “to show their right to relief is ‘clear and indisputable’” (court opinion).

Then came the dueling statements. On December 17, 2024, Archivist Colleen Shogan stated the ERA “cannot be certified as part of the Constitution due to established legal, judicial, and procedural decisions” (National Archives). On January 17, 2025, President Biden declared that “the 28th amendment is the law of the land.” His statement did not direct Shogan to publish it.

Shogan’s tenure ended on February 7, 2025. After two acting Archivists, Marco Rubio and Ed Forst, the Senate confirmed Bradford P. Wilson as Archivist on August 7, 2026 (National Archives list, confirmation release). The ERA remains unpublished.

What the ERA Would Change

If the ERA took effect, it would not invent sex equality from nothing. Courts already strike down many sex-based laws under the 14th Amendment. What the ERA would change is the strength of that protection and where it lives.

Today, when the government treats men and women differently, courts apply intermediate scrutiny. In Craig v. Boren (1976), the Supreme Court said such laws “must serve important governmental objectives and must be substantially related to achievement of those objectives.” Race discrimination gets the tougher test, strict scrutiny, which demands a “compelling” interest and a narrowly tailored law.

The most important column is the last one. The 14th Amendment’s sex protections are not written down. They come from a line of cases the Supreme Court built starting in the 1970s, which means the same Court can narrow them. Our 14th Amendment explainer shows the three levels of review and where sex sits among them. After the Court overturned Roe in 2022, supporters argue, the risk of court-made rights being rolled back is no longer hypothetical.

Skeptics argue the 14th Amendment, plus Title VII on jobs and Title IX on schools, already bars most sex discrimination, so the ERA’s added legal force would be modest. Supporters answer that statutes and court doctrines can be repealed or reinterpreted, while constitutional text is far harder to undo, and that intermediate scrutiny is a weaker shield than strict scrutiny in close cases.

The State ERAs Filling the Gap

While the federal ERA stalls, equal-rights protections have been moving into state constitutions, where they take effect immediately and cannot wait on the Archivist.

29 states have some sex-equality protection in their own constitutions. The Brennan Center’s survey, updated October 5, 2026, lists 23 with an equal-rights amendment, New York’s included, and 6 with narrower provisions (Brennan Center). Wyoming wrote one of the earliest into its 1890 constitution, and Utah followed in 1896, long before the federal fight.

The newest is the most expansive. In November 2024, New York voters approved Proposal 1 with 62.5% of the votes cast on the question (Ballotpedia). It added protection against discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, pregnancy, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy, along with ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability.

Vermont is next. Proposal 4, an equal-protection amendment covering sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, disability, and other traits, is on the ballot on November 3, 2026, after the Vermont House gave it final approval 128-14 in May (Ballotpedia News).

State ERAs are not a replacement for the federal amendment. A protection in New York’s constitution does nothing for a woman in a state without one. They do give courts in those states a textual hook the federal Constitution still lacks.

Where the Fight Stands in 2026

The ERA is in active dispute on three fronts.

Where the ERA Stands on Each Front

As of October 15, 2026

• House Joint Resolution 80 and S.J.Res. 38 Proposal, in committee

  Both would declare the ERA ratified despite the deadline. Referred to the Judiciary Committees on March 24 and 25, 2025, with no action since. (source)

• Valame v. Trump Final ruling, review denied

  A unanimous Ninth Circuit panel held on November 4, 2025 that the ERA missed the deadline. The Supreme Court denied review on June 22, 2026. (source)

• Certification by the Archivist Blocked by a court, not certified

  The Archivist said on December 17, 2024 that the ERA cannot be certified, deferring to the Justice Department, whose 2020 opinion still stands. Under a 2020 agreement, any certification would wait at least 45 days after the department said the ERA is still pending, and it has not. (source)

Source: govinfo bill status; Supreme Court docket 25-1259; National Archives

In Congress, Rep. Ayanna Pressley introduced House Joint Resolution 80 on March 24, 2025, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski introduced the Senate companion, S.J.Res. 38, with Sen. Mazie Hirono the next day (GovInfo). Both would declare the ERA ratified despite the deadline, and neither has had a committee vote.

In the courts, the Ninth Circuit ruled in November 2025 that the ERA was not ratified before the deadline, and the Supreme Court declined to review that ruling on June 22, 2026. In Massachusetts, Judge William G. Young dismissed an ERA challenge to the male-only draft on March 24, 2026 “in light of controlling precedent” (court order). At the National Archives, a new Archivist, Bradford P. Wilson, took office in August 2026. The 2020 OLC opinion still stands, and the Justice Department has not said the ERA is still pending, the step that would start the 2020 agreement’s 45-day wait.

In a January 2020 AP-NORC poll, 73% of adults favored the ERA, including 70% of men and 76% of women (AP-NORC).

How the ERA Could Still Be Finished

There is no single switch to flip. The ERA’s supporters are pursuing three paths at once, each with a different obstacle.

The first runs through Congress. The 2020 OLC opinion said Congress “may not revive a proposed amendment after a deadline for its ratification has expired,” while OLC’s 2022 opinion said the 2020 opinion is no obstacle to Congress acting, and supporters argue a joint resolution would settle the three late ratifications. The House passed one removing the deadline 222-204 on March 17, 2021 (House roll call), but in April 2023 a Senate vote to advance it failed 51-47, short of the 60 votes the filibuster requires (Senate roll call). House Joint Resolution 80 and S.J.Res. 38, introduced in 2025, would go further and declare the ERA ratified.

The second path is the “already ratified” theory. Supporters argue the 38th ratification completed Article V and the Archivist’s refusal is unlawful, so a future president could direct publication or a future court could order it. That path runs through litigation the courts have so far declined to resolve on the merits.

The third path is the long one: pass the ERA through Congress again from scratch, with no deadline, and send it back to the states. That restarts a process that took 49 years the first time.

Where the ERA Is Genuinely Contested

A credible case for the ERA has to name the real objections, not just the strawman ones.

The deadline question is unresolved, not settled

Supporters say the deadline does not belong in a constitutional amendment because it sat in the preamble, not the text the states ratified. Opponents say Congress has always had power to set a reasonable ratification window, and 38 years late is not reasonable. The Ninth Circuit sided with the deadline in 2025, and the Supreme Court declined to review that case in June 2026 without ruling on the merits, so the question is still open.

Rescission may or may not count

Five states voted to take back their ratifications. If those count, the ERA never reached 38. Article V says nothing about rescission. In Coleman v. Miller (1939), the Supreme Court’s lead opinion said the effect of an attempted withdrawal “should be regarded as a political question,” with “the ultimate authority in the Congress” (opinion).

The legal payoff is debated, not guaranteed

People disagree about how much the ERA would add to existing law. The Brennan Center notes that courts and legislatures “have realized much of what the amendment was designed to accomplish” since 1972. Supporters argue that writing those protections into the text is the point, because court-made rights can be unmade. How much would change would be worked out case by case.

It is not primarily about any single issue

Opponents have long tied the ERA to specific flashpoints, from the draft in the 1970s to abortion today. Supporters dispute those links and note the amendment’s text addresses sex discrimination broadly, not any one policy. We cover the separate abortion-access fights in our explainers on the Dobbs decision and the Comstock Act; the ERA debate is about the constitutional standard for sex equality itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the 28th Amendment?
There is no 28th Amendment in force. The Constitution has 27 amendments. The Equal Rights Amendment is the best-known candidate: 38 states have ratified it, but the Archivist has not certified it, and a federal appeals court ruled in 2025 that it missed the deadline Congress set.

Is the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution right now?
No. As of 2026, 38 states have ratified it, but it has not been certified, published or enforced by any court, so it is not operative constitutional law. A federal appeals court ruled in 2025 that it missed the deadline, and on June 22, 2026 the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of that ruling.

When was the Equal Rights Amendment passed?
Congress passed the ERA in March 1972, with the House voting 354-24 in October 1971 and the Senate 84-8 on March 22, 1972, and sent it to the states with a seven-year deadline to ratify. It has never taken effect. Alice Paul drafted it, and it was first introduced in Congress in December 1923.

Why did the Equal Rights Amendment fail?
It stalled at 35 of the 38 states it needed by 1977, and five of those states later voted to withdraw. The Brennan Center credits a campaign by conservative activists, led by Phyllis Schlafly’s STOP ERA, with slowing it, and the extended deadline ran out in 1982. Three more states ratified from 2017 to 2020, but only after the deadline.

How many states ratified the Equal Rights Amendment?
Thirty-eight, the number Article V requires. Thirty did so by the deadline and never withdrew, five ratified and later voted to withdraw, and three (Nevada, Illinois and Virginia) ratified from 2017 to 2020, after the deadline. Twelve states never ratified.

How is the ERA different from the 19th Amendment?
The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, guarantees women the right to vote. The ERA is broader: it would bar the government from discriminating on account of sex in any legal right, not just voting.

Does the ERA only protect women?
No. The text bars denying rights “on account of sex,” which applies to everyone. In practice most cases have involved laws that disadvantage women, but the protection runs both ways.

Could the ERA be used to challenge abortion bans?
Some advocates argue a sex-equality amendment could support such challenges, and some opponents raise the same possibility as a reason to oppose it. Courts have not ruled, and the link is disputed. The ERA’s text is about sex discrimination generally, not abortion specifically.

What is the difference between the ERA and Title IX?
Title IX is a 1972 federal statute that bars sex discrimination in education and can be amended or repealed by Congress. The ERA would be constitutional text, which is far harder to undo.

What You Can Do

1. Ask Congress to recognize the 38 ratifications. House Joint Resolution 80 would declare the ERA ratified regardless of the deadline. Tell your representative and senators to support House Joint Resolution 80 and its Senate companion. Use the letter below.
2. Ask for a House discharge petition. When leadership refuses to schedule a vote, a discharge petition with 218 signatures can force one. None of the House Clerk’s 27 discharge petitions in this Congress covers House Joint Resolution 80, so ask your representative to support filing one.
3. Support a state ERA where you live. State amendments take effect immediately and do not wait on the Archivist. If you live in Vermont, Proposal 4 is on your November 3 ballot. Elsewhere, find your state legislators at openstates.org.
4. Know your state’s status. Use the map above to see whether your state ratified, rescinded, or never acted. A rescinding or never-ratified state is where local pressure has the most to change.
5. Tell your representatives directly. Name the deadline, name the 38 states, and ask them to act. The letter below uses the same facts on this page.