WASHINGTON – Late Tuesday, the League of Women Voters of the United States filed a friend of the court brief in the federal lawsuit Commonwealth of VA, IL, and NV v. Ferriero, a case that supports ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) as completed by the states of Virginia, Illinois, and Nevada. 

“The Equal Rights Amendment is long overdue, and the League of Women Voters has advocated for decades that women should be included in the Constitution as equal to the men who wrote the founding document,” said Virginia Kase, CEO of the League of Women Voters of the United States.  

As part of the ERA Coalition, the League of Women Voters has pushed for ERA ratification multiple times over the last year. After Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the amendment in January 2020, the next step should have been for the Archivist of the U.S. to certify the amendment. However, the U.S. Attorney General indicated that the Archivist should not do so, since the 1982 deadline has passed. This lawsuit would resolve the deadline issue once and for all. 

“We are thrilled to be presenting this brief on behalf of more than 50 national and local organizations that fight every day for equality,” said Linda Coberly, Chicago Managing Partner with Winston & Strawn LLP. “The broad coalition represented by this brief shows how critical it is that the Equal Rights Amendment finally becomes part of our Constitution.”  

The League of Women Voters has been fighting for ratification of the ERA since the 1970s. The ERA will pave the way for further legislative progress towards gender equality and will allow the courts to closely scrutinize sex-based discrimination. The case will be heard this summer and the League looks forward to a swift decision.