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SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 1
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By: Senators Kelly, Beidle, Elfreth, Klausmeier, Hettleman, Guzzone, Feldman,
Hester, Lam, King, Smith, Gile, Waldstreicher, and Kagan
Introduced and read first time: January 24, 2024
Assigned to: Judicial Proceedings
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
A Senate Joint Resolution concerning 1
Affirming the Federal Equal Rights Amendment 2
FOR the purpose of urging the Administration of President Joseph R. Biden to publish, 3
without delay, the federal Equal Rights Amendment as the Twenty –eighth 4
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and urging the U.S. Congress to pass a joint 5
resolution affirming the Equal Rights Amendm ent as the Twenty–eighth 6
Amendment; and generally relating to the federal Equal Rights Amendment. 7
WHEREAS, In 1972, the 92nd Congress of the United States, at its second session, 8
in both houses, by a constitutional majority of two–thirds, adopted the following proposition 9
to amend the U.S. Constitution: 10
“JOINT RESOLUTION RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 11
AND SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED 12
(TWO–THIRDS OF EACH HOUSE CONCURRING THEREIN), That the following article 13
is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid 14
to all intents and purposes as a part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures 15
of three–fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission by 16
the Congress: 17
ARTICLE ______ 18
Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the 19
United States or by any State on account of sex. 20
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, 21
the provisions of this article. 22
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.”; 23
and 24
2 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 1
WHEREAS, Article V of the U.S. Constitution provides a two–step procedure for the 1
adoption of an amendment; and 2
WHEREAS, The first requirement for the adoption of an amendment under Article 3
V is the proposal of an amendment either by a two–thirds vote of both houses of Congress, 4
or by a convention called by application of two–thirds of the states; and 5
WHEREAS, The second requirement for the adoption of an amendment under 6
Article V is ratification of an amendment by three–fourths of the states; and 7
WHEREAS, The U.S. Constitution does not limit the time for states to ratify an 8
amendment and does not grant Congress the authority to unilaterally limit the time by 9
which an amendment may be ratified; and 10
WHEREAS, A time limitation for the ratification of amendments by the states would 11
be a substantive change to the U.S. Constitution; and 12
WHEREAS, To have full force a nd effect, a substantive change to the U.S. 13
Constitution must be within the text of an amendment so that it may be ratified by the 14
states as part of the requirements of Article V; and 15
WHEREAS, The time limitation on state ratifications was in the preamble section of 16
the resolution by Congress and not within the text of the amendment presented to states 17
for state approval; and 18
WHEREAS, Because of the placement of the time limitation, the states ratified the 19
text of the Equal Rights Amendment but did not ratify the time limit by Congress; and 20
WHEREAS, A time limit was approved in the Equal Rights Amendment by Congress 21
in 1972, but has not been subsequently approved by the states and thus is without force or 22
effect; and 23
WHEREAS, In comparison, in 1978, Congress passed the District of Columbia 24
Voting Rights Amendment, which included a time limitation within the text of the 25
Amendment offered to the states for ratification; and 26
WHEREAS, The time limitation for the District of Columbia Voting Rights 27
Amendment ended before ratification of the amendment by three–fourths of the states; and 28
WHEREAS, Because the time limit was within the text of the District of Columbia 29
Voting Rights Amendment, the time limit had full force and effect and the amendment 30
expired in 1985; and 31
WHEREAS, In comparison, the Twenty–first Amendment and the Twenty–second 32
Amendment include time limitations within the text of each amendment, and the timelines 33
were ratified by three–fourths of the states in accordance with the text of the amendments; 34
and 35 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 1 3
WHEREAS, In 1789, the First Congress proposed, in accordance with Article V, the 1
Madison Amendment relating to compensation of members of Congress; and 2
WHEREAS, Over 202 years later, the Madison Amendment was ratified by 3
three–fourths of the states; and 4
WHEREAS, In 1992, having finally met the requirements of Article V, the Madison 5
Amendment was published as the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by the 6
Archivist of the United States during the Administration of President George H.W. Bush; 7
and 8
WHEREAS, Following publication of the Madison Amendment by the Archivist of 9
the United States, Congress affirmed the Madison Amendment as the Twenty–seventh 10
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and 11
WHEREAS, As of January 27, 2020, three–fourths of the states have ratified the 12
Equal Rights Amendment; and 13
WHEREAS, Unlike the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, the Equal 14
Rights Amendment does not contain a time limit in its text where it would be of full force 15
and effect; and 16
WHEREAS, In contrast to the Madison Amendment, which took 203 years to ratify, 17
the Equal Rights Amendment took only 48 years to ratify; and 18
WHEREAS, The text of Article V of the U.S. Constitution grants the states the power 19
of ratification, not rescission; and 20
WHEREAS, Samuel Johnson’s dictionary of 1755 defines “ratify” as “to confirm; to 21
settle”; and 22
WHEREAS, Bouvier’s Law Dictionary of 1856, considered to be the first American 23
legal dictionary, states that a ratification once done, “cannot be revoked or recalled”; and 24
WHEREAS, James Madison wrote in a July 20, 1788, letter to Alexander Hamilton 25
that ratification is “in toto and for ever”; and 26
WHEREAS, Various attempts to rescind ratifications of provisions of the U.S. 27
Constitution or its amendments, including the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth 28
Amendments, have never been honored; and 29
WHEREAS, The General Assembly of Maryland set a precedent for this resolution 30
in 1961 by passing House Joint Resolution 14 urging Congress to pass the Equal Rights 31
Amendment; and 32
4 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 1
WHEREAS, Maryland was one of the early states to ratify the Equal Rights 1
Amendment in May 1972, two months after Congress proposed it for ratification; and 2
WHEREAS, Maryland adopted the Maryland Equal Rights Amendment to t he 3
Maryland Constitution in 1972; and 4
WHEREAS, The Maryland Equal Rights Amendment is only effective to the degree 5
that it does not conflict with federal law; and 6
WHEREAS, The Maryland Attorney General filed an amicus brief in 2022 in support 7
of a lawsuit brought by three ratifying states to require the Archivist of the United States 8
to certify and publish the Equal Rights Amendment as an amendment to the U.S. 9
Constitution; and 10
WHEREAS, Over several decades, the General Assembly of Maryland has passed 11
laws and created protections attempting to guarantee equal rights under the law for all 12
Marylanders, regardless of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, creed, 13
religion, or sex – which includes legal equality and protection from discrimination on the 14
basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy 15
outcomes, and decisions regarding reproductive healthcare or other aspects of an 16
individual’s bodily autonomy; now, therefore, be it 17
RESOLVED BY THE G ENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, That it is the 18
opinion of the General Assembly of Maryland that the Equal Rights Amendment meets the 19
requirements of Article V of the U.S. Constitution and should be recognized as the 28th 20
Amendment; and be it further 21
RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of Maryland urges the Administration of 22
President Joseph R. Biden to publish, without delay, the Equal Rights Amendment as the 23
28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and be it further 24
RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of Maryland urges the Congress of the 25
United States to pass a joint resolution affirming the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th 26
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and be it further 27
RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of Maryland calls on other states to join in 28
this action by passing similar resolutions; and be it further 29
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of 30
Legislative Services to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States of 31
America, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20500; the Honorable Kamala 32
Harris, Vice President of the United States, President of the United States Senate, Senate 33
Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; the Honorable Colleen Joy Shogan, Archivist of 34
the United States, National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania 35
Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20408; the Maryland Congressional Delegation; and the 36
presiding officer of each House of the legislature of each state of the United States, with 37 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 1 5
the request that it be circulated among leadership of the legislative branch of the state 1
governments. 2