Below is my column in Fox.com on President Joe Biden’s last-minute declaration that the 28th Amendment is now part of the United States Constitution. It appears that our president sees dead amendments, but that is not the greatest thing that should worry you.
Here is the column:
President Joe Biden wants people to know that he sees dead amendments. Just before leaving office, Biden declared that we have a 28th amendment despite dying in the ratification process years ago.
Not since the movie Sixth Sense has there been a more creepy moment. To paraphrase Cole Sear in the film, Biden does not see them in constitutional coffins but “Walking around like regular [amendments]. They don’t know they’re dead.” Neither does Biden.
Biden waited to shortly before leaving office to pander to the most delusional elements of the Democratic party in unilaterally announcing that the Equal Rights Amendment is now part of the Constitution. The farcical moment was then amplified by figures like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) rejoicing and falsely telling women that they can now go to court and enforce the amendment to restore such things as abortion rights.
This bizarre group fantasy was triggered by the following declaration:
“In keeping with my oath and duty to Constitution and country, I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: the 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex.”
Without naming them, Biden cites dozens of “constitutional experts” to support this absurd claim.
Biden’s last-minute declaration is more creepy than the movie because it requires not just the departure from the constitutional process but reality. Despite running as the champion of democracy, Biden is simply brushing aside the fact that the ERA was not ratified, as made clear by his own Justice Department and his own archivist just weeks ago.
Even the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg declared the amendment dead.
Archivist, Colleen Shogan recently explained that neither her office nor the White House have the authority to publish the amendment unilaterally or waive the deadline for ratification:
“In 2020 and again in 2022, the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice affirmed that the ratification deadline established by Congress for the ERA is valid and enforceable,” she wrote. “The OLC concluded that extending or removing the deadline requires new action by Congress or the courts.”
“Therefore, the Archivist of the United States cannot legally publish the Equal Rights Amendment. As the leaders of the National Archives, we will abide by these legal precedents and support the constitutional framework in which we operate.”
The reason is simple. The underlying argument is utterly ridiculous.
As I have previously written, the ERA is as dead as Dillinger.
The deadline for ratification of the ERA was set for March 22, 1979 — allowing seven years to secure the required approval by three-quarters of the states, or 38 states. It failed to do so. Even worse, four states — Nebraska, Tennessee, Idaho, Kentucky — rescinded their prior ratifications and a fifth, South Dakota, set its ratification to expire if the ERA was not adopted by the 1979 deadline.
Kentucky also had an additional problem because its Democratic lieutenant governor vetoed the resolution rescinding the ratification when the governor was out of town. However, Article V speaks of ratifications by state legislatures.
Notably, during the extended period, not a single state was added. Even assuming that the five states could be counted despite the votes to rescind their ratifications, the ERA was still three states short when it missed the second deadline.
Democrats then insisted that states could not rescind their votes, even before ratification was finalized. So, Democrats and then-President Carter simply extended the deadline to June 30, 1982. However, in 1981, a federal district court ruled in Idaho v. Freeman that Congress could not extend the ERA’s ratification deadline. (The Supreme Court later stayed that order but then declared the matter moot.)
In 2021 federal Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled that it would have been “absurd” for the Archivist to disregard the deadline and unilaterally add the unratified amendment to the Constitution. On appeal, a unanimous D.C. Circuit panel rejected the appeal of Illinois and Nevada that the Archivist should be ordered to publish the ERA, holding “The States’ argument that the proposing clause is akin to the inoperative prefatory clause in a bill is unpersuasive…because if that were the case, then the specification of the mode of ratification in every amendment in our nation’s history would also be inoperative.”
None of this matters to the defenders of democracy who ignored the votes in these states and dismissed constitutional deadlines and procedures. Harvard Law Professors Laurence Tribe and Kathleen Sullivan ran a column declaring “The ERA is Now Law!” as if amplification and exclamation points would somehow make it true. (Tribe was the same constitutional expert cited by Biden as support for extending his eviction moratorium, a move quickly declared unconstitutional. Tribe also insisted that Trump could be charged with the attempted murder of former Vice President Mike Pence and that the law was clear “without any doubt, beyond a reasonable doubt, beyond any doubt”).
Notably, Biden did not issue an executive order to the archivist as many activists wanted. The reason is simple: the White House knew that it could be challenged in court and would quickly collapse under judicial review. They would prefer Biden to declare Caesar-like that we have a new amendment and treat it as a fact.
With the declaration, Biden gave “the last full measure of devotion” to the radical left of his party. It was a pandering and frankly pathetic moment for a president who is currently one of the least popular presidents in leaving office.
His action on the ERA is precisely why he is viewed as a “failed” president. Biden has always sacrificed principle for the politics of the moment. This was a participation trophy given to activists that lacked any substance or basis. It is also why voters saw Biden as the greater threat to democracy than Trump.
It is chilling to think that Biden actually believes this nonsense and sees dead amendments walking around the White House. After all, insiders have described the White House in the final days as a virtual “morgue.” Yet, the truth may be even scarier: He simply does not care. He sees dead amendments in the hope of restoring life to his legacy. Both, however, now belong to the ranks of the corpus corpus mortuum.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
I’m off on another tangent, as my state burns.
One should recall that over the years, when conservatives, and those in rural areas, complained about how Democrat policies were making living in California more dangerous, and expensive, Democrats would tell us not to let the door hit us when we left. We complained about policy-driven higher crime, regulations that made septic tanks add another zero in cost, the high price of fuel making commutes expensive, and driving up the cost of all goods and services, raising minimum wage driving restaurants and other small businesses under and increasing prices on the rest of us, and how fires burned out of control. Regulations ended fire breaks bulldozed in hills and the removal of deadwood, and there was resistance to putting power lines under ground. We spoke out about the dangers of road diets, that deliberately took lanes away from high traffic zones to force people into public transportation. We were told not to live in rural areas. No one cared when a rural home burned, regulations drove insurers out of state, policies made costs to rebuild skyrocket, or that our hills constantly burned because of Democrat policies. The Left didn’t care that rebuilding could take years with all the red tape, exorbitant permits, and regulations. No one cared that we had to wait for Canada’s fire season to end to borrow their Super Scooper. We were mostly conservatives, and the elites were safe in their expensive homes.
I said for years on this blog that these policies were driving taxpayers right out of the state. I said there would be a tipping point where if enough people left, the state would go bankrupt.
Well, now the Left burned in Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Alta Dena, and suddenly, Democrats care a lot about how difficult it is to rebuild. Governor Newsom declared he would “cut the red tape” to rebuild these areas. He can’t afford for the elite, taxpaying population of these areas to leave. So he’s working on ways to “stop speculators”, or in other words, prevent burned out homeowners from selling their land and moving out of state. He’s trying to trap people on those properties, by claiming he’s protecting them from land speculators.
Where the heck was Newsom with cutting the red tape when it was rural areas burning, due to Democrat policies?
Here in rural areas, they regularly cut the power during high winds, due to fire hazard. They don’t turn them on again until the lines are all inspected. We rely on gas generators to work our well water pumps, or else we’re without water, yet Newsom has banned gas generators starting in 2028.
There was a project to replace wooden power poles with metal ones, to decrease the fire hazard, but that project was stopped due to disruption of California native plant, the milk vetch, which propagates by fire. I cannot imagine any plant that propagates by fire would be having a hard time in California, save for areas that have burned so often the plants are destroyed before they can flower, but native milk vetch is available to purchase online. The project was halted, and those wooden fire poles burned.
I’m thinking the elites will realize that when conservatives talk about streamlining regulations, and removing onerous ones, they aren’t talking about sending kids to work asbestos mines.
The elite Democrats across the country are starting to sound a lot like conservatives, tough on crime, when thieves started smash and grabbing luxury stores.
Some voters just can’t understand the conservative point of view until they personally experience the results of catastrophic Democrat governance. California has been a Democrat supermajority for decades. Nothing can be blamed on Republicans in this state. CA is what happens when Democrats get everything they want in politics.
Karen S: why do you just repeat the baseless slop you lap up from MAGA media? You do not, and never will speak for whatever you think “we” is–you are a MAGA–a distinct minority. Tell us, when you have Santa Ana winds that are hurricane-force, how fires are supposed to be prevented from spreading? Those hot, dry winds, that blow in from the desert for days on end, and which are getting hotter and stronger due to climate change that Republicans think they can wish away because fossil fuel interests make huge donations, blow sparks for miles and miles, spreading the fires–so how would clearing deadwood or fire breaks prevent fires from spreading under these conditions? And, what do you think happens to metal utility poles when you have the kind of hot fires that are burning in California? They weaken and bend in intense heat. You need to stop the “we vs. the elites” mentality–nothing you say about Democrats not caring about the welfare of people is true–nothing. California is the most-populous state in America. It sends more in tax dollars than any other state and doesn’t begin to receive back what it pays out, unlike several red states. You MAGAs sit in front of your computer or television and lap up the slop and lies–like the claim that it is “obvious” that the fires started and are spreading due to “mismanagment”, so California is going to have to make concessions to get the federal aid to which it is entitled. No it is NOT “obvious” that mismanagement had anything to do with the start or spread of these fires. What is obvious is that climate change is causing all kinds of natural disasters–from hurricanes to floods to fires–and insurance companies know it, which is why people in flood and hurricane-prone areas can’t get homeowners insurance–the same for fire-prone areas. All of these climate-change issues will continue, will get worse and more often until or unless we take affirmative action to stem emissions. One of the first things your lying president will do is stop all green energy initiatives. MAGA media also lie about reservoirs being dry. All of the reservoirs in the areas where the fires are burning are full. There is a reservoir away from the fire zone that is closed for repairs–it wouldn’t have been used for this fire.
WHAT “catastrophic governance” are you talking about? The incident involving the milk-vetch plant involved developers bulldozing an area in which this endangered plant is ecologically essential–without first seeking any permit that would have required them to avoid killing all of the plants. If the developers had worked with local government, the 1930s-era wooden poles could have been replaced and the plants preserved–but they didn’t. You failed to mention that.
Giving,
To answer your question beginning your rant: “WATER”.
There are these things called fire mitigation and control actions that are practiced by the forestry and firefighting departments. Controlled burns, underbrushing, strategically placed fire units during high probability times, fire line testing, reservoir level checks. Someone tell GooGoo, remember, Only You can prevent forest fires. MAGA is the majority that just destroyed the Democratic Party.
What do you do about hurricane force winds that keep getting hotter and drier and that go on for days on end? Any spark from any source would cause the catastrophic fires California is experiencing. No one could successfully fight fires or stop them from spreading under these conditions. So that’s why it’s so wrong for Republicans to accuse Democrats of “mismanagement” over these fires. That’s why it’s so wrong for MAGA media to keep spreading lies and misinformation.
Maybe Trump can sign an executive order commanding the wind to stop blowing, but don’t expect him to stop lying about Gavin Newsom , Karen Bass and other Democrats being at fault or to otherwise play politics with this tragedy. Trump somehow thinks federal disaster relief is optional and that he can dole it out to his supporters and deny aid for disasters in blue states.
The plan for the Malibu, palisades is to pave it and remove all plant life. The pavement will have areas for motor homes and trailer parks.
The “climate change” you condescendingly spew about has always been extant. It is more appropriate to refer to climatic alterations as “weather”. Just leave it like that and you won’t portray your ignorance in such a raw form.
The climate is always changing. Where I am currently sitting was buried under a sheet of ice a hundred feet thick at one point in time. There have been several ice ages over the past several million years. How much human activity has contributed to “climate change” is debatable. But the so-called Green Deal does not solve a thing and is nothing more than a grift. Just like the Obama failed Soydrana solar company, the CEOs got rich, built nothing and then went bankrupt all at taxpayers expense. If all those claiming “climate change!” were to get real, they would give up their smartphones, their cars, their smart homes, their HD TVs and live a late 1800s life style.
” How much human activity has contributed to “climate change” is debatable.”
The precise amount might be debatable, but not the relative magnitude, which clearly is “minimal”.
Silly GiGi, everyone knows we will become extinct by our own means long before the climate gets us.
* The end of mankind will be back to the trees. There’s a frightening increase in birth defects and defective genes are now in the general population.
It’ll take quite a bit of time before it’s complete.
Mankind is old and the genetics are just wearing out.
“Mankind is old and the genetics are just wearing out.”
Just like the horseshoe crab and the duck-billed platypus, right?
* The complete truth would be too difficult for you. It can cause instant insanity, number 6.
Don’t believe me—believe property and casualty insurance companies that are going out of the homeowner insurance business in fire and flood prone areas, like coastal areas in the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic seaboard and California. If climate change wasn’t real and isn’t expected to get worse they would keep selling policies.
Every policy and move your demoncrats did in california from not preparing to no water to no fire trucks active to not stopping burns as they started caused the disaster and everyone knows it. Incompetent uncaring fools who apparently prefer a burn down and rebuild for a 2028 15 minute LA tyranny city. Murderous blood cult demoncrats are to blame. DEI doofuses and devil may care dunces.
“The “climate change” you condescendingly spew about has always been extant. ”
Yes, ever since this planet was a spinning ball of magma. Which is, in fact, pertinent, because a great deal of the magma still exists at depths, and it is probably the primary driver of changes at the surface to this day. The old saw is also appropriate here, “climate is what we expect; weather is what we get”. BTW, I think the new sock puppet Karen is just Googoo wearing a different clown hat.
Climate Change Did Not Cause the LA Fires
“A scientist says the climate is not broken; we need fossil fuels; and bad policy led to the fires.”
https://www.thefp.com/p/climate-change-did-not-cause-the-la-fires-steve-koonin
LA Whistleblowers: DEI, Widespread Corruption Doomed Wildfire Response
https://x.com/shellenberger/status/1880013540263669983
Note, this would be the third whistleblower.
GEGENIUS IS IN ABJECT VIOLATION OF THE CIVILITY RULE!
BAN FOR LIFE!
I don’t think it’s so much a case of conservative versus liberal as it is the unscrupulous engaged in empire building. All of these regulations serve to amplify their power and authority. Just as wholly contrived issues politicized as divisive do.
Maher says liberal celebrities not holding politicians accountable for wildfires ‘hypocritical’
“Maher noted that liberal celebrities typically call for gun control after a mass shooting but most of them seem to be keeping politics out of the wildfires, calling it “hypocritical.”
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/maher-says-liberal-celebrities-not-holding-politicians-accountable-wildfires
“Maher says”
Maher occasionally comes out with something that is vaguely reasonable, but always mucks it up with leftist garbage that indicates what a spineless twunt he really is. The passive-aggressive attack on 2A in the latter part of that statement is a case in point.
Karen S,
No worries on the OT. If it absolutely has to be useless, more expensive, over regulated, over taxed and just plain dumb, leave it to Democrats in the failed state of CA to do it.
The question is what is this going to do to the CA housing market? The homeowner insurance market? The small business market? And if there is a mass exodus of people who take the insurance money, sell their properties and run for better ran states, how will that affect the population shift? Congressional seats? Those of you who remain, you are the ones they are going to come looking to fund their next boondoggle of hand outs in higher taxes, more regulations or other equally dumb ideas.
So it’s settled? Wait a minute, what does the Constitution actually say about amendments?
Article V
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
Where does it say anything about a time limit? Nope, not there. Congress made that up. Will it stand up in court? Maybe, maybe not. So Biden says it’s the law of the land Let the lawsuits begin. Will the current supreme court side with Biden or not?
It doesn’t preclude a time limit, so your argument fails.
It will stand up in court because it already has previously. SCOTUS ruled in 1921 in Dillion v Gloss that Congress can place time restrictions on ratification of amendments. The district and DC Circuit Court upheld the ERA amendment couldn’t be published because it was ratified by VA after the deadline. RBG even stated the ERA was dead and had to start again.
And the court ruled in Dread Scott that blacks could never be free. Or how about the SC saying education can be separate but equal? Or if that goes back too far for you, how about the SC saying women have the right to an abortion?
The SC changes its mind all the time. Point being there will be court cases because of this and one of these days the SC will have the final say, not you, unemployed, no friends, unshaven face, sitting in the basement of your parents house at age 50.
The Constitution does not say that the president may deny fully constitutional secession, start an unconstitutional war, impose martial law, suspend habeas corpus, smash printing presses, throw opponents in prison, viciously destroy enemy territory burning industries, farms, and homes, confiscate private property, fail to enforce existing legislated immigration law installing an inimical 4-million-man standing army on U.S. soil, kill one million Americans, hold a gun to America’s head, and then act like everything is rosy and ram through and improperly ratify, not one but three antithetical, anti-Constitutional, anti-American and pro-communist amendments in an environment of brutal post-war military occupation and oppression.
Oh, hell no, the Constitution does not say that; it never did.
American freedom persisted for merely 71 years until Lincoln’s heinous and unconstitutional “Reign of Terror.” The only thing that should have happened to Abraham Lincoln was impeachment and conviction for egregious and horrific crimes of high office and innumerable misdemeanors.
Biden’s opinion is irrelevant. He has nothing to do with the process, so his statement is of exactly the same value as mine. If anyone tries to sue based on this fake “amendment” it will be dismissed on sight, probably with sanctions.
Biden (or, more likely, his handlers), has been on a mission to do everything in his power to sabotage Trump’s agenda before he leaves office, to spite the Will of The People. As mentally incapacitated as he may be, I think that is a more likely explanation for this declaration: just another distraction that the Pam Bondi and her DOJ will need to waste time and energy upon that could be expended on much better pursuits.
Laurence Tribe had one sane moment in the late 1970s or early 1980s, when he did some research, then publicly conceded that the 2nd Amendment was indeed intended to protect the right of individual US citizens to arm themselves (he had previously declared it to pertain to Federally recognized para-military organizations only). He took so much heat on that issue from rabid leftists who had previously licked his boots, that he has not made a single similar misstep into the land of logic and reason since. then
Numner 6: Trump doesn’t need any help with “sabotage”–his lies and incompetence will shine forth just like it did last time. And, your echoing of the MAGA “Will of the People” rhetoric is pure BS. Excerpted from “MSNBC”–citing a Marist/NPR poll, /The Economist/You Gov poll, and a USA Today/Suffolk University poll:
“Still, most new presidents typically enjoy a honeymoon period: Fresh from their election victory, the public invests them with hopes for positive change and gives them the benefit of the doubt. Joe Biden, for instance, had 57% approval in the first Gallup poll of his presidency; Barack Obama came in at 67% approval. Even Bush, who like Trump lost the popular vote in his first victory, started at 57%. In fact, Trump was the only president in the Gallup poll’s history — going all the way back to Harry Truman — who entered office with an approval rating under 50%. He was also the only one to never crack 50% approval for a single day of an entire term.
On the verge of his second term, even after his first popular vote victory in three tries, Trump’s approval is weak. A new Marist/NPR poll puts it at just 44%; 49% say they disapprove of him. The Economist/YouGov poll gives him a similar 45/51 split, while a USA Today/Suffolk University survey has his favorability/unfavorability at 47% each.”
Trump’s LIE about immediately bringing down the cost of groceries is what put him over the top–even he admits this. Trump “won” by 2nd slimmest margin in the last 50 years–1.48%. When it becomes obvious to those who were duped into believing their food prices will immediately drop that he LIED–the public’s already-strong opposition to him will only grow stronger. Can’t wait for the midterms. I just hope the entire economy doesn’t crash and burn first or that there isn’t another pandemic.
And, the boot-licking performances of people that the stripper-haired nominee for Attorney General, DOD and others is pathetic–throwing out statistics that try to make the case that Trump is overwhelmingly popular–something not true, as proven by the polls cited above. But then, it was just a performance for an audience of one–something that is not lost on most of us.
“will of the people”? trump failed (for the 3rd time) to get 50% of the votes that were cast. How is that even close to the “will of the people”
Americans have learned from this experience what it means to elect someone unfit for the job of POTUS. Biden’s handlers, his wife, family, and aides are all guilty of undermining this government and placing the nation in jeopardy by their willful negligence in telling him to quit and us to fire him. Only when it became undeniable and obvious were we allowed to cancel him. But if it took us that long to realize the obvious, you can bet your last dollar other world leaders in places like China, Iran, Russia, N. Korea knew it long before the average American.
JJC,
Well said. Those of us paying attention knew Biden was unfit for the job back when he was campaigning from the basement in 2020.
Only in theory, not in real practice (so far at least), presidential “Executive Orders” are supposed to circumscribe the U.S. Constitution as defined by the U.S. Supreme Court.
This seems even more illegal and more dangerous. If Biden can subvert the constitutional amendment process, so can Trump!
Both Republicans and Democrats lose by subverting constitutional due process.
No word yet from the troves of women now lining up to register for selective service
Yes, where are all the adamant feminist screaming for their right to serve on the front lines?
I am so proud that I can honestly say that I never cast a vote for this cadaverous charlatan at any time in his political career. It just saddens me that he was inflicted on the country for the past 4 years and we will likely take longer than that to repair the damage.
On the bright side I think his statement can be exhibit #1 in a long list of evidence to prove he was incompetent and maybe use that to nullify some of his actions and also pursue his minions in the White House who were complicit in perpetrating this fraud on the Nation.
They Knew, Schumer Knew, Kamala Knew, Pelosi Knew, and every person on his Secret Service Detail Knew, and all the White House Staff that worked with him on a daily basis Knew. Daily observation and interaction would have obviously shown this failed mind.
GEB,
Well said. I have stated on the good professor’s blog more than a few times that the damage done by the Biden admin will take years if not a decade to fix. We all knew he was mentally impaired as he campaigned from the basement in 2020.
WATCH: When Mike Johnson Knew Joe Biden Was Not in Charge
“Sir, why did you pause LNG exports to Europe?” the speaker asked. “I didn’t do that,” Biden replied. He had, three weeks earlier—but he wasn’t aware of what he’d signed.
https://www.thefp.com/p/when-mike-johnson-knew-joe-biden-not-in-charge
We all did!
Well said
Obama knew.
Biden/Harris was Obama’s third term.
Obama was never eligible and never a “natural born citizen.”
Obama was never an American; Obama was always the enemy.
Obama’s allegiance is to foreigners and foreign ideologies.
Obama admitted his crimes of treason when he stated, “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”
Obama fundamentally hated America, with good reason from his perspective, and intended to fundamentally transform it.
Obama would have not been admitted to become a citizen by the American Founders.
The American Founders did not intend for their nation and its Constitution to be “transformed,” fundamentally or otherwise.
The American Founders did not include the “Reconstruction Amendments” but they made clear the immigration requirements for Americans.
Am I the only person who thinks Biden had nothing to with this proclamation? He’s a corpse and his administration has been run by a DEI committee of progressive activists for years.
I am almost afraid to see what the next 48 hours bring????????? These people in the WH are insane.
Logic, integrity and knowledge have never been Biden’s strong suits. That’s why he finished near the bottom of his law school class. And lied about that too.
For the last eight years I’ve been saying, if Sen. Gillibrand had a sex tape, she’d be president today.
As a NY State representative, Gillibrand was the closest doppelganger they could come to replacing that harpie from Chappaquiddick.
The scary thing is that this Oval Office Captain Queeg has for the past four years never been more than a few feet or a few seconds away from the nuclear missile launch codes. Yikes!
He retains that proximity for two more days. Knock on wood, please.
For Biden, retirement will be a rush of activities divided between time at the beach and Matlock reruns. His condition now is a true advantage on Matlock, as every day Joe will tell (Dr) Jill he’s just seen a new episode.
In his final presidential act, coming tomorrow, he may declare the University of Delaware library as his presidential library, avoiding the pesky problem of fundraising.
After viewing piles of document cartons , I believe it would be easier, if not better, to just move out his Corvette, and name his garage as Presidential Library.
Hear hear
Watching Hazel reruns and guzzling milkshakes in his high chair and pajamas with the built in feet!
The Constitution does not have provisions for time limits to ratify amendments, nor for states to revoke amendments. Nor does it give Congress more power in the amendment process over the states. Thus holding the legal position that the ERA is part of the constitution is reasonable and defendable.
Dream on, cupcake.
Don’t waste your time answering a troll who gets paid to lie so as to divert the conversation.
What is said that was untrue?
Where does the Constitution say anything about a time limit?
The amendment process is spelled out specifically. Seems that adding other constraints might not be legal. Only the SC can answer that question. Not you in your pajamas in your parents basement.
If you libturds are going to try to stand on that most of your deep state fed gov needs to be struck down first.
I’d definitely make a deal that we use your current interpretation and give you the ERA if we get to strike everything else you charlatans made up that is not in the Constitution.
We’d have that two trillion spending cut double, easily.
We will apply your twisted brain embolism to it all. “the constitution doesn’t say that”.
Another crazy comment by Anonymous. To support your statement Anonymous please provide us with the documentation of the states having ratified the ERA. Just like Joe you see dead amendments walking. You also have your imaginary friends just waiting to help you write you hourly comments on this blog. Be very careful Anonymous they’re coming to take you away ha ha. They’re coming to take you away!!!.
Are you saying that the Constitution forbids setting time limits for ratification? Where do you find this prohibition?
Where do you find authority to add a time limit?
You idiot libs and your penumbras and emanations for the past 9 decades.
Glad you finally agree all gun laws are unconstitutional. 2A
(that the ERA is part of the constitution is reasonable and defendable.) I think that you meant to say the the concept of the ERA is alive within the framework of our constitution, but not the actual amendment. Don’t try your parlor tricks here.
Anonymous 11:51 am-Nor does the Constitution forbid those actions by the states. Since this action to revoke a vote for an amendment is not strictly forbidden to the states or given expressly to the Federal Government then that power devolves to the states or the people.
Amendment X, of the Bill of Rights, I believe.
Delusional D
The Constitution does not prohibit setting a time limit nor does it allow an unlimited time to ratify.
Only a buffoon and leftist Democrats would believe that a proposed amendment could be ratified 52 years later. The proposal for this amendment was two years after Biden entered office. His dementia has gotten so bad he thinks 1972 was yesterday.
The 27th Amendment on congressional pay raises was ratified 202 years after it was proposed. The amendment was largely forgotten until a student at University of TX, Gregory Watson, wrote a paper for a class in which he claimed that the amendment could still be ratified. He then launched a nationwide campaign to complete its ratification and became effective May 5, 1992. However, the resolution for the 27th A never had a deadline for the states to ratify it which is completely different situation than the ERA amendment.
The fact that the Constitution does not mention time limits to ratify amendments does not mean that said time limits are prohibited as you assert. Indeed, the Constitution doesn’t mention a lot of things that are perfectly constitutional. Congress has the power to set the amendment process in motion and putting a deadline on its completion comports well with its authority.
And it is the SC that decides what is Constitutional or not.
Biden says it is part of the Constitution. Let the lawsuits begin and see what the SC says.
What Biden says is irrelevant. He has no say in the matter. His statement cannot be the basis for a lawsuit.
The power to do something includes the power to not do, or to undo.
Congress does not have more power over amendments than the states. States can propose amendments themselves or they can call an Article V convention.
Congress is just ONE way to propose amendments – the most common one. Those amendments put forth for ratification by congress have the constraints imposed by congress.
You are free to start over with the ERA or any other amendment, and you can bypass congress entirely if you wish.
Congresses power over an amendment is limited to that which it excercised when it drafter the amendment.
Time limits are valid. Congress could bare rescinding ratification and that likely would be valid – but they did not.
Most americans would support AN era, just not THE era. Strike the 2nd clause and it will get approved.
There is no need for “enabling legislation” for a right that prohibits government infringement.
There is no delegation of power to allow congress to craft free speech laws. Congress can not as an example require an employer to give employees first amendment rights. The first amendment is a constraint on govenrment.
A proper ERA is a constraint on government.
It does not grant the govenrment new powers, it RESTRICTS government from discriminating on the basis of sex.
It does NOT empower government to tell others what they must do.
Though frankly the ERA can not pass today – because those on the left can not define sex in a way that the majority of the country will accept.
States cannot propose amendments, nor can they call a convention. Only Congress can do those things.
All states can do is ask Congress to call a convention.
In Dillon v. Gloss, SCOTUS held the Constitution implictly authorizes Congress to fix a definite period for ratification of an amendment. In that case, the Court upheld Congress’ 7 year time limit on the ratification of the 18th Amendment establishing prohibition. Congress has specified a deadline of 7 years for the ratification of every proposed amendment except for the resolution for the 19th Amendment recognizing women’s suffrage since the Dillion case.
The Constitution delegates authority to Congress — most all authority regarding the amendment process. The authority to determine when the threshold for a Constitutional convention has been met, the authority to call the convention, the authority to decide when and where the convention will be held. All powers except ratification. This includes the power to set a deadline. It is insane and illogical to think otherwise.
The powers states have are to submit applications for a constitutional convention and to ratify the amendments. States don’t even get to decide the ratification method — Congress decides that.
In addition, the Constitution doesn’t delegate authority to Congress to prevent states revoking their ratification of an amendment, nor does the Constitution deny states the authority to revoke their ratification. Have you ever read the 10th Amendment?? If so, then you know what this means — states HAVE the authority to revoke their ratification.
Article V
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
Tenth Amendment
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Furthermore, the Constitution specifies no role for the president. Congress and the states have the powers.
In the movie A Beautiful Mind the Professor comes to the realization that the people he is seeing who are telling him what to do are not real. Perhaps some psychological expert should spend some time with Joe Biden to convince him that amendments to the constitution that he thinks he sees are not real. Once the Professor in the movie realized that his hallucinations were not real he went on to live a useful life. Joe however, still believes that he never met with his son’s business partners. The sad part is that the Democratic Party tried its best to keep a man with dementia in the Whitehouse when they knew he had it all along. The Democratic Socialist party of America must prevail even if hiding the truth from the American people is required. It’s a common theme amongst all attempts at Socialism throughout history. A nice parting shot by Comrade Biden on his way out the door while the praise from the left is deafening.
Thinkitthrough,
I am waiting for all the tell all books about who and what was really going on in the Biden admin. I read that Harris has a $20 million dollar book deal. Be great if she was the one who does the tell all!
So sad … this is Biden closing the lid on his own administration and putting in the nail himself. However, those who actually rank him as the ‘best President’ like Axelrod, lower their own credibility — and that is truly a shame. Now to move on and let us assign Biden and Jill and his Administration to history — and let history cement his legacy. This past week, watching the confirmation hearings, have been interesting. The Dems proved themselves to be less interested in the future of this country than in grandstanding.
“this is Biden closing the lid on his own administration and putting in the nail himself. ”
Perhaps some brave soul needs to open the lid of that box long enough to drive a stake through his heart, just to make sure…
The true danger is not that Biden made this insane pronouncement. It’s that so many have latched onto it and have promoted it as legitimate. That’s so incredibly dangerous! Equally frightening is the fact that the courts will stand back and endlessly debate the issue rather than stopping it before it does incredible damage. It’s time to stop the madness and quit playing games with the Law.
(It’s that so many have latched onto it and have promoted it as legitimate.) Now we see the long end game of the communists who infiltrated our media/education industries so many decades ago. They have produced indoctrinated ignoramuses who are smart enough to be consumers but no concept of logical thinking and, therefor, can be manipulated into “buying” any notion as long as it is advertised correctly. Those brain-dead tools frighten me far more that the apparatchicks in the swamp.
whimsicalmamma: What do you think the J6 gambit was all about? Advertise it as the “worst attack on democracy since the civil war” (Kamala Harris) and do so continually with the robust backing of the Deep State and their MSM acolytes. The ‘brain-dead tools’ pulled it off for four years. Now we can try that with the ERA and see how that goes. Not nearly as well as J6 I will wager.
We should have listened to Tail Gunner Joe McCarthy when he was drunkenly screaming about communists infiltrating our nation. He was surely and quickly obliterated by the very same media/education industry that has given us generations of miseducated, barely cognitive humanoids that lack the first smattering of critical thinking, thereby making it far easier to manipulate the hordes of illiterates. My biggest gripe these days is the omnipresence of ads for Grammerly and AI programs to help the ignorant and illiterate pass themselves off as educated, enlightened thinking beings. Just how do you get in to a university when you need a basic english program to write your term papers for you?
Joe Biden has been out of it for a LONG TIME, and Democrats have known this for an even longer time. None of them will confront Biden over his asinine comments because that would force them to admit Biden has been out of it for a long time and they did nothing. It would also force them to explain who was really running the government during this time. Democrats rightly figure Biden will soon be gone, so why bring attention to their many failures when they instead can divert attention by attacking Trump and company although he is not yet in office.
Biden is a complete lunatic who belongs in a locked memory unit
Alright, we all know the emperor has no clothes. All the prog/left are the “tailors” trying to pass of an old naked dude as a functioning president.