Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

It's nice to see you.

Right. Well, I've known for a long time that the Equal Rights Amendment is not part of the Constitution. Recently, I started looking into the law and looking into actually what it takes to make a constitutional amendment. And I realized pretty quickly it was about Article 5 of the Constitution that sets out two things that need to be accomplished to become a a constitutional amendment.

Right. Well, I've known for a long time that the Equal Rights Amendment is not part of the Constitution. Recently, I started looking into the law and looking into actually what it takes to make a constitutional amendment. And I realized pretty quickly it was about Article 5 of the Constitution that sets out two things that need to be accomplished to become a a constitutional amendment.

You need two thirds of the House and Senate to vote in favor of it. That happened in the 1970s. It needs three quarters of the states to ratify. The last state to ratify was Virginia in 2020. And so I realized really quickly that the two things that are required by the Constitution have been met.

You need two thirds of the House and Senate to vote in favor of it. That happened in the 1970s. It needs three quarters of the states to ratify. The last state to ratify was Virginia in 2020. And so I realized really quickly that the two things that are required by the Constitution have been met.

So what's supposed to happen is when the two standards are met by Article 5—two-thirds House and Senate, pass it, ratified by three-quarters of the state—the archivist, who has a ministerial job only— He or she is not supposed to analyze the law. They're not supposed to have a deep think about it. They're just supposed to sign and publish when the two things are done.

So what's supposed to happen is when the two standards are met by Article 5—two-thirds House and Senate, pass it, ratified by three-quarters of the state—the archivist, who has a ministerial job only— He or she is not supposed to analyze the law. They're not supposed to have a deep think about it. They're just supposed to sign and publish when the two things are done.

And because Trump was president in 2020, his Office of Legal Counsel issued a memo telling the archivist he couldn't sign and publish. And that memo said, timelines matter and you took too long. to get this added to the Constitution. And they cited a decision saying that all constitutional amendments have to be done in a timely way.

And because Trump was president in 2020, his Office of Legal Counsel issued a memo telling the archivist he couldn't sign and publish. And that memo said, timelines matter and you took too long. to get this added to the Constitution. And they cited a decision saying that all constitutional amendments have to be done in a timely way.

Well, the 27th Amendment took 203 years to become a constitutional amendment. So clearly timeliness is not a standard. And so I looked further into what the law says about timelines and whether this timeline that Congress had put in as a seven years deadline in the preamble was actually constitutionally operative.

Well, the 27th Amendment took 203 years to become a constitutional amendment. So clearly timeliness is not a standard. And so I looked further into what the law says about timelines and whether this timeline that Congress had put in as a seven years deadline in the preamble was actually constitutionally operative.

And there was actually precedent that talked about cases that had timelines and deadlines and saying they were not valid. And I realized that the strength of the arguments were actually on our side.

And there was actually precedent that talked about cases that had timelines and deadlines and saying they were not valid. And I realized that the strength of the arguments were actually on our side.

So I've been asking the White House to either issue a new LLC memo, and if they don't want to do that, then direct the archivist to sign and publish on the basis that the two things that Article 5 requires have been completed.

So I've been asking the White House to either issue a new LLC memo, and if they don't want to do that, then direct the archivist to sign and publish on the basis that the two things that Article 5 requires have been completed.

Well, if you noticed in the Dobbs decision... Right, overturning Roe. Justice Alito alluded that there is no right to privacy in the Constitution and there's nothing protecting women for these issues in the Constitution.

Well, if you noticed in the Dobbs decision... Right, overturning Roe. Justice Alito alluded that there is no right to privacy in the Constitution and there's nothing protecting women for these issues in the Constitution.

Well, that really highlighted the need for the Equal Rights Amendment to be part of the Constitution, because equal rights amendments across the board in states, states like Connecticut, states like New Mexico, there's current litigations in places like Pennsylvania.

Well, that really highlighted the need for the Equal Rights Amendment to be part of the Constitution, because equal rights amendments across the board in states, states like Connecticut, states like New Mexico, there's current litigations in places like Pennsylvania.

When a state has an equal rights amendment, in the case of reproductive rights, they have found that if a woman is denied access to health care for reproductive rights, including abortion, That it's fundamentally unequal. And so in the cases of Connecticut and New Mexico, women on Medicaid were given access to abortion services because they were denied it.