EQUAL MEANS EQUAL DENOUNCES PRESIDENT BIDEN FOR HIS MEANINGLESS STATEMENT AND DEMANDS THAT HE AMEND IT IMMEDIATELY TO INSTRUCT ERA PUBLICATION BY THE U.S. ARCHIVIST
President Biden put out a statement today stating his “belief” that the ERA is ratified and yet took no real action to insure that it would be entered in the Federal register and enforced as Constitutional law. At a minimum, President Biden must amend his statement to add: “Therefore, the Archivist must follow 1 US Code §106b immediately” and then issue a release that his statement has been amended.
“This is just another example of the long-standing disrespect and bad faith that the President has shown women over his disastrous administration. From failing to forestall the Dobbs decision, which he could have prevented by publishing the Federal ERA, to fighting EQUAL MEANS EQUAL and the States of Virginia, Illinois and Nevada in the courts, this President will go down in history as an enemy to American women and girls. If he truly wanted to see women’s equality enacted he would have directed Colleen Shogan, the US Archivist, to follow 1 US code 106b immediately. Instead he has simply given his opinion, which everyone from the American Bar Association to the American Constitution Society has already stated for months: the ERA is the law. By failing to take action before leaving office, Biden is attempting to take the heat off and salvage his “legacy” with women by offering us self-serving window dressing,” said Kamala Lopez, Founder/President of EQUAL MEANS EQUAL
Even after the ERA was fully ratified by the last three necessary states, Nevada, Illinois and Virginia, on January 27, 2020, when the Trump administration wrongfully blocked the Archivist from following the mandatory law, 1 U.S. Code, Section 106b, based on Article V of the Constitution, which requires the Archivist to publish all amendments “forthwith” after they are ratified by 3⁄4 of the states, President Biden failed his duty to see that the laws were faithfully executed when he took office and continued fighting against publication in two federal lawsuits, dismissed on technicalities, the first brought by EQUAL MEANS EQUAL.
“President Biden should hang his head in shame. Women are not stupid. We asked him to use his constitutional authority to direct the Archivist to put the ERA in the Constitution but instead he issues a statement giving us his opinion on the ERA’s validity? His opinion is absolutely worthless, not to mention disingenuous given that his DOJ is still blocking the ERA the same way Trump’s DOJ did,” said Wendy Murphy, EME’s Legal Counsel.
Despite the White House being informed from June 17, 2022 by attorney and EME Legal Advisor Arlaine Rockey that President Biden had a Constitutional duty, under Article II, Section 3, to “Take Care” to instruct the Archivist to follow that law and publish the ERA, the President nonetheless used the demise of women’s bodily autonomy in his re-election campaign.
“We are not going to stop fighting for the Equal Rights Amendment until it is in the Federal Register. Biden still needs to take the final step and finish the job. Direct the Archivist to publish the ERA today. Actions not words.” – Natalie White, EME Vice President.
Contact: Kamala Lopez, Founder/President EQUAL MEANS EQUAL
[email protected]
