![]() ![]() Either way, a super-majority of two-thirds in Congress or of state legislatures is required to offer a proposed amendment. The first, the power to propose an amendment, rests in Congress and/or the states. Under Article V of the constitution, Congress and the States share the power to amend the constitution, with three functions identified. Amending the Constitution: Congress and the States ![]() Under the law, amendments become effective immediately upon ratification by the last state, but with questions about the legality of the ratifications, and a two-year window for states to implement the ERA, it is urgent that the Supreme Court settle the fate of the ERA. Although the ERA was not ratified within seven years, it has now been approved by 38 states, setting up two unprecedented legal questions: the validity of the deadline and whether states may rescind after they have ratified.Īlthough the ERA was not ratified within seven years, it has now been approved by 38 states, setting up two unprecedented legal questions: the validity of the deadline and whether states may rescind after they have ratified. As the proposal was being debated, a seven-year ratification deadline was included in the preamble. The ERA was proposed in 1972 after Congresswoman Martha Griffiths used a technical rule to move the proposal out of committee, where it had been stalled for nearly 50 years, and to the floor for a vote. We are in unprecedented constitutional territory now. With the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment by Virginia, three-fourths of the states will have ratified the proposal, but it is far from clear whether the ERA will become the 28th amendment to the U.S. ![]()
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