Another Explanation of ERA's Need for Just 3 More States

Dear Governor Crist:

In the event there is a special session called, I urge you to include taking up the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and getting it "off the table". It has been introduced every year since 2003.

It is now an election issue with the supporters of the ERA. Ms. Morilla has explained it much better than I could and is as following.....Denny Wood, www.dignity4disabled.com, www.dennywood.net CC: SUPPORTERS, MEDIA, LEGISLATURE, OTHERS.

----- Original Message -----
From: Morilla, Laura C. (Advocacy)
To: dignity4@comcast.net
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 1:30 PM
Subject: ERA info
Good afternoon Mr. Wood. Per our earlier phone conversation, here is some information about the ERA “Three State Strategy.”

In 1972, Congress finally passed the ERA and sent it to the states for ratification, but with a ratification deadline of 1979. In 1978, when only 35 of the necessary 38 states had ratified the ERA, Congress extended the deadline to 1982. The ratification deadline expired on June 30, 1982, still with only 35 states. On May 7, 1992, the “Madison Amendment,” which deals with Congressional pay raises, became the 27th amendment to the Constitution when Michigan became the 38th state to ratify it. Congress submitted the Madison Amendment to the states as part of the original Bill of Rights on September 25, 1789, but it was not ratified until 203 years later in 1992.

The ratification of the Madison Amendment acted as a catalyst for ERA supporters because it called into question the legality of the ratification deadlines imposed on the ERA, and also highlighted Congress ability to accept an amendment long after the fact. ERA supporters developed a “Three State Strategy” for ratification based on the legal theory that the ratification by the previous 35 states is still viable and that the ratification deadline was improper or could be extended again or abolished altogether. Simply put, the idea is to get three more states to ratify the ERA, then throw the matter to Congress and get Congress to lift the deadline and, voila, we have at ERA in the Constitution. Since Florida is one of 15 states that has not ratified the ERA, that’s why there has been a focus on Florida for the past few years as part of the Three State Strategy.