President Biden doesn’t appear to be resting during his final weekend in the White House. Instead, he’s pushing for a new amendment to the Constitution that would make the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) “the law of the land.”
In a statement released by the White House, Biden demanded that the United States “affirm and protect women’s full equality once and for all.”
While his point is clear in the statement, a post on his official X account had users mocking the president. The post references the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. However, the US Constitution only has 27 amendments, the last of which was ratified in 1992.
In a post on X calling the ERA the “law of the land,” implying that it is already part of the Constitution, which is not the case. Social media users were quick to point this out, with some calling the president a “dictator.”
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Others online also brought up Biden’s past rhetoric about Trump being a “threat to democracy,” accusing the president of trying to “declare” an amendment into existence.
Citing the American Bar Association in the statement, Biden argued that the ERA has “cleared all necessary hurdles to formally be added to the Constitution.” Biden added that he agreed with “the ABA and with leading constitutional scholars that the Equal Rights Amendment has become part of our Constitution.” However, despite Biden’s argument, the National Archives disagreed.
In its own December statement on the ERA, the National Archives said that “at this time, the Equal Rights Amendment cannot be certified as part of the Constitution due to established legal, judicial, and procedural decisions.”
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The ERA, a proposed amendment to the constitution that would guarantee “equal rights under the law” to all Americans regardless of sex. Its latest iteration was a rapid response by New York Democrats to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization decision in June 2022.
“It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people. In keeping with my oath and duty to Constitution and country, I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: the 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex,” Biden said in the White House statement.
The assertion triggered a community note, which read, “Readers added context they thought people might want to know. The Archivist of the United States, charged with officially publishing ratified amendments, has confirmed that the ERA was not ratified and based that analysis on binding legal precedent. There is no 28th Amendment.”
A spokesperson for the Biden administration did not respond to a request for comment.
Over the last few years, America’s divide over women’s rights has grown larger. Some celebrated the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, while others saw it as a fundamental attack on freedom. Additionally, the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports has turned into a heated debate about fairness and equality.
