ERA-NC Alliance, along with 52 other prominent women’s and social justice organizations, filed an amicus brief on July 1 in the lawsuit Virginia, Illinois and Nevada v. David S. Ferriero. The suit seeks to compel Ferriero, as the National Archivist, to publish the Equal Rights Amendment, making it the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
When Virginia ratified the ERA in January, it became the 38th and final state needed to add the amendment to the Constitution. Nevada ratified in 2017 and Illinois followed in 2018.
Ferriero refused to accept Virginia’s ratification and failed to publish the 28th Amendment. In contrast, he did accept Nevada and Illinois’ ratifications, though they, too, were outside the 1982 time limit.
“I debated the Equal Rights Amendment in 1971 in my senior high school English class,” said Lori Bunton, ERA-NC Alliance co-president. “And here I am, 49-plus years later, helping to lead an organization whose primary goal is to ratify the ERA in North Carolina. I am excited to sign on to the landmark amicus briefs.”
“I’m old enough to remember when Louisiana women were barred from serving on juries; when I could not get credit in my own name; when my mother was not even considered for a promotion, which, of course, went to a less experienced man,” said Roberta Madden, Alliance co-founder and board member. “Some of these outrages have been fixed, but too many have not. This amicus brief is a treasure trove of our history and makes a strong argument to provide women the constitutional protection we must have.”
A host of organizations, businesses and equality groups have filed briefs supporting the suit. Along with the Alliance, other nationally known women’s equality groups include the Alice Paul Institute, the Association of American University Women, the ERA Coalition, the League of Women Voters, TIME’S UP Foundation, the Feminist Majority Foundation, National Congress of Black Women, National Council of Jewish Women, National Organization for Women (NOW), National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Women’s Media Center and Voto Latino.
“A single unelected official cannot be allowed to stand in the way of an amendment that has been fully ratified in accordance with the Constitution,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said. “Equal rights are not contingent upon a person’s gender or sex, and it is past time that women across the country have the constitutional equality to which they are entitled.”
Constitutional law scholars, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, 18 states, the governor of Kansas, the mayor of Washington, D.C., and the youth-centered equality group GenERAtion Ratify have joined briefs.
Amicus briefs have also been filed on behalf of more than 100 businesses and corporations, such as Apple, Advance Publications, Estee Lauder, Biogen, Goldman Sachs, Sports Business Journal, the National Football League and the United States Soccer Federation.
State and other Amicus Briefs:
Business and Corporate Entities
Chemerinsky, Feldman, Siegel, Suk
Equality Now and International Organizations
Generation Ratify
New York and Other States
Plantiff States Memorandum
Southern Legal Counsel
VA Ratify and Other State Organizations