June 29, 2020
~~~
Ford files brief
opposing Trump Administration’s motion to dismiss
in ongoing lawsuit
Carson City, NV – Today, Nevada
Attorney General Aaron D. Ford filed a brief opposing the Trump Administration’s
attempts to dismiss his landmark civil rights lawsuit that seeks to ensure that
the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is added to the U.S. Constitution. On January
30, 2020, following Virginia’s historic vote to become the 38th and
final state needed to ratify the ERA, AG Ford filed a
landmark lawsuit to guarantee equal rights for women. His complaint asked the
Court to compel the U.S. Archivist to do its statutory duty by recognizing the states’
ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. In May, the Trump Administration filed a motion to dismiss
AG Ford’s lawsuit, seeking to block gender equality from being added to the
Constitution. Today’s motion argues why it is
imperative that the ERA is recognized as the 28th Amendment in the
Constitution.
“For more than four months, the Trump Administration has stalled
the courts from enshrining equal rights for women nationwide,” said AG Ford.
“His Administration is signaling to the
women of America that, after 231 years, they must wait even longer for the
equal treatment under the Constitution. To every woman in Nevada and across
America fighting for equal rights, I’m proud to fight alongside you.”
In his
brief, AG Ford highlights that blocking recognition of the ERA as a valid amendment
to the Constitution would signal to the women of America that they must wait
even longer for equality. AG Ford also argues that “with Virginia’s
ratification earlier this year, the Article V requirements [of the
Constitution] were satisfied and the Equal Rights Amendment became ‘valid to
all Intents and Purposes, as Part of th[e] Constitution.’”
Additionally,
AG Ford argues that the Constitution does not “[give] the federal Executive
Branch any role in the amendment process” and the framers of the constitution
“designed the process to ensure that federal power had its limits.”
In AG
Ford’s original lawsuit filed in January of this year, he explained why the Equal
Rights Amendment remains valid for several reasons. As the Complaint states,
“Article V does not empower Congress to dictate when a state may consider –
much less ratify – a proposed amendment” and “nothing in Article V suggests –
much less clearly requires – that States take action on proposed constitutional
amendments within any particular amount of time.” The complaint also explains
that “States have no power to rescind prior ratifications.”
Today’s
filed brief is attached.
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