(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . PUBLISH THE ERA, JOE — WOMEN’S LIVES AND LIVELIHOODS ARE AT STAKE — AS IS DEMOCRACY! [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-22 By Arlaine Rockey (ERA Attorney), Kamala Lopez (Founder & Pres. of Equal Means Equal, National ERA Advocate) and Jean Sweeney (Attorney, Founder & Co-Chair of National ERA Publication Task Force) Without the Equal Rights Amendment (“ERA”), women do not have bodily autonomy nor are they equal citizens. President Biden has a Constitutional duty to tell the U.S. Archivist to publish the fully-ratified ERA. The ERA guarantees equal rights cannot be denied or minimized by state or national laws on account of sex. The Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision created a national reproductive rights health crisis, including a fear-effect deterring doctor’s care, even of non-abortion pregnancy issues. Biden’s mandatory Article II, §3 Constitutional duty to “Take Care” to enforce laws, including 1 U.S. Code, §106b, requires him to direct the Archivist to publish the ERA as the 28th Amendment. The ERA will stop anti-choice laws and most sex-discriminatory laws. The ERA can be used to overturn Dobbs and the Comstock Act. Biden will get the necessary 10% point bump if he publishes the ERA now, as 65% - 85% of voters support Reproductive and LGBTQ rights. UNCONSTITUTIONAL CONFUSION The Constitution’s Article V establishes roles for Congress to draft amendments, and the states to ratify amendments, if ¾ (38) of them approve it. Congress cannot set a deadline for how long states have to ratify an amendment – unless the deadline is in its proposed text. Yet, Congress put an unconstitutional “deadline” in the ERA Resolution’s Preamble – not in the text – which caused confusion. Only 35 states ratified before that void “deadline” ended in 1982. RE-BIRTH OF THE ERA In 2012, Archivist David Ferriero said he would publish the ERA if it was ratified by 38 states. ERA advocates, Equal Means Equal, helped obtain the last three states’ ratifications. When Virginia ratified on January 27, 2020, the ERA legally became an Amendment and then became legally-effective two years later, per its §3, which was on January 27, 2022, prior to the June Dobbs decision. The final step of publishing the ERA in the Constitution, to give official notice to our country that it exists, is the Archivist’s duty, per 1 U.S. Code §106b. Once the Archivist publishes, that action is final. A new Amendment would need to be ratified to abolish the ERA. The Clinic’s attorneys never argued the ERA in Dobbs. Per Supreme Court Rules, only a party to a case can submit new legal authority after oral arguments. However, after the Alito leak, Attorney Rockey sought permission to file an Amicus Brief in Dobbs, on behalf of ERA-NC Alliance, on the ERA because it is the textual basis for reproductive choice, that Alito claimed did not exist, but it was not allowed. For the first time, a ratified amendment has been blocked from publication. Trump blocked the Archivist from publishing the ERA in 2020 with the unconstitutional void deadline. Biden has now blocked the ERA for over three years, although he admitted it was fully-ratified in 2020. WHY HAS BIDEN BLOCKED THE ERA — THAT IS THE QUESTION Before Dobbs, Biden was aware of his Constitutional duty to publish the ERA. Attorney Rockey wrote his White House Counsel, pleading that Biden publish the ERA to save Reproductive Rights. Biden blames Trump for women losing Roe, yet Biden had the opportunity to save it, and he remains our only chance to protect Reproductive Rights. Biden promises he will sign a law “Codifying Roe,” but Congress cannot Constitutionally pass a law to protect reproductive rights unless Biden publishes the ERA first. The ERA in its Section 2 (see full ERA text below) has an enabling clause that specifically gives Congress the authority to make laws to enforce the ERA. Worse, Biden’s Department of Justice fought against the ERA being published by the Archivist as the 28th Amendment in two federal court cases until February, 2023 — when he could have just agreed for the Archivist to publish the ERA since it is mandated by 1 U.S. Code §106b, and he has a Constitutional duty to enforce the laws. The first case was brought by Equal Means Equal. The second was filed by the final three states to ratify the ERA. Biden repeatedly deflected his duty onto Congress, but their job was done in 1972. On January 27, 2022, he again shirked his duty, stating, “I am calling on Congress to act immediately to pass a resolution recognizing ratification of the ERA.” THE TIME FOR THE ERA IS NOW Biden’s delay is unconscionable. Equal Means Equal, its Final Impact for the ERA Campaign, the National ERA Publication Task Force, and the Young Feminist Party demand Biden publish the ERA to save women’s lives and livelihoods. Biden’s refusal to direct the Archivist to publish the ERA in the U.S. Constitution is legally depriving over 51% of our population, Women and Girls, as well as all LGBTQ citizens, from being publicly legally recognized by the courts and by the state and federal governments as equal citizens, which has allowed the post-Dobbs anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ laws to drastically change our way of life. YOU CANNOT HAVE DEMOCRACY when over 51% of the population are 2nd class citizens! Although Congress has no further official role, they have 113 Co-Sponsors on Resolutions, both stating the ERA was fully-ratified, is enforceable now as the 28th Amendment, and the Archivist should publish it without delay. But only Biden has the power and the Constitutional duty to make that happen. Multiple states, Democrats Abroad, the North Carolina Democratic Party, organizations, and constitutional scholars have informed Biden the ERA is valid and must be published. The United Nations found “sweeping” human rights violations of women and LGBTQ people here and called on the U.S. to finalize (publish) the ERA. To earn the youth, pro-choice, LGBTQ and pro-democracy vote, Biden must end this national trauma first. The Dobbs anniversary, June 24, 2024, will see multiple women’s rights rallies—an opportunity for women and their supporters to DEMAND BIDEN PUBLISHES THE ERA! Biden must make that call to the Archivist now, before it is again too late. Afterwards, he can sign an Executive Order and celebrate his historic BFD. THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Sec. 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. Sec. 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification. H.R.J. Res. 208, 92d Cong., 86 Stat. 1523 (1972) Final Impact, Make The Call, Joe! photos on entrance of Focus Art Fair NYC May 9, 2024. Courtesy of Equal Means Equal and Final Impact for the ERA, donated by www.insideoutproject.net A Global Art Project by JR. AUTHORS’ BIOS: Attorneys Jean Sweeney and Arlaine Rockey, May 10, 2024. Arlaine Rockey, Esq., is a national feminist attorney for over 30 years for, and trial and case consultant for other attorneys who also represent, protective mothers trying to protect themselves and/or their children from domestic violence, and child physical or sexual abuse in the context of custody or domestic violence protection order cases against the other parent. There is such gender bias in the family courts all over the country that when a mother alleges child abuse committed by the other parent, there is about a 50% chance that she will actually lose custody to the abuser. There’s an article on her website explaining the reasons, called Protecting Your Child. Ms. Rockey believes the ERA can be used to correct gender bias in the courts. In 2020, Ms. Rockey was asked to represent at last count 86 Friends of the Court (organizations with collectively approximately a million members) in an Amicus Brief in the EME Federal lawsuit against the Archivist to get him to publish the ERA in the Constitution as the 28th Amendment. The last three states to ratify also sued for the same purpose. The Biden DOJ fought against ERA publication in both cases. Ms. Rockey has an ERA Legal Blog that provides insight into the post-ratification battle to get the ERA properly published as the 28th Amendment. Ms. Rockey is a Legal Advisor to EME and is a member of the National ERA Publication Task Force. She speaks about the urgent need for Biden to Publish the ERA. Ms. Rockey is also the screenwriter and an Executive Producer of The First Suffragist, the initial biopic of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, currently in pre-production. On X (fka Twitter) @ArlaineRockey and @ERA4ReproRights. Photo Collage, from Equal Means Equal’s Final Impact for the ERA “Make the Call, Joe!” Campaign, with EME President Kamala Lopez in front, taken May 8, 2024, at FOCUS Art Fair in Chelsea, NYC, Courtesy of Equal Means Equal and Final Impact for the ERA, donated by partners www.insideoutproject.net A Global Art Project by JR, and Katrina Benzova. Kamala Lopez is the founder and indefatigable President of the LA-based, national ERA advocacy group, Equal Means Equal (“EME”), that was instrumental in getting the last three needed states to ratify the ERA, Nevada in 2017, Illinois in 2018, and Virginia on January 27, 2020. EME is a member of the National ERA Publication Task Force and the ERA Coalition. To help educate people about the continued need for the ERA, she was the screenwriter, director, producer, and star of the 2016 powerful award-winning documentary, Equal Means Equal. Watch it on Amazon Prime. She is a Yale grad, a versatile actor, an inspiring speaker, and a brilliant writer and strategist. EME’s new Final Impact Campaign to get the ERA published has been joined by a variety of important artists and celebrities to bring the truth to the country, that President Biden has a Constitutional duty to instruct the Archivist to publish the ERA, which he has been blocking for over three years, while knowing the ERA is the only possible tool to overturn Dobbs, to save reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, to gain equal pay, and to stop violence against women. EME was at WeHo Pride Street Fair in June 2024. On X (fka Twitter), YouTube and all social media @EqualMeansEqual. Photo Collage from Equal Means Equal’s Final Impact for the ERA “Make the Call, Joe!” Campaign, on the roof at FOCUS Art Fair in Chelsea, NYC. Courtesy of Equal Means Equal and Final Impact for the ERA, donated by partners www.insideoutproject.net A Global Art Project by JR and Katrina Benzova. Jean Sweeney, Esq. began her career on Wall Street in 1980s and is a 40 year practicing New York attorney who joined activists envisioning the ERA 3 State Strategy 10 years ago. Her organization Rethinking Eve is a member of the ERA Coalition and has worked with Equal Means Equal for 10 years focused on getting Constitutional equal rights for women. She is the creator of the National ERA Publication Task Force that has been solely focused on ERA publication since September 2021. She is an activist leader, writer, blogger and speaker on ERA Publication. Blogs at Rethinking Eve. On X (fka Twitter) @RethinkingEve. 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