Republicans who oppose the ERA have said they don't believe it is necessary, and others have said it would raise legal questions about Congress' authority to remove ratification deadlines.
The Democratic-controlled House in 2021 passed a resolution to extend the deadline by a vote of 232 to 183, with five Republicans joining all Democrats in voting in favor of the legislation. But it failed to move forward then in the evenly-divided Senate. The ERA was first proposed in 1923, and it passed both Houses of Congress in 1972, but it needed to be ratified by at least three-fourths of the states, or 38 states, to be added to the Constitution within seven years. The deadline was later extended to 1982, but only 35 of the 38 needed approved it by then. Three more states have since approved it, bringing the total number to 38. But the Justice Department under former President Donald Trump had argued that the time period had elapsed and Congress would need to pass it again and it would again need to be ratified by three-fourths of the states.
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Caroline Linton is an associate managing editor on the political team for CBSNews.com. She has previously written for The Daily Beast, Newsweek and amNewYork.
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