The Washington Post fact-checked President Joe Biden after he claimed that the 28th Amendment to the Constitution had been “ratified” and that he would officially recognize it.
Biden made a statement about the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which aims to stop gender discrimination but is not currently part of the Constitution:
“On January 27, 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The American Bar Association (ABA) has said the ERA has met all requirements to be added to the Constitution as the 28th Amendment. I agree with the ABA and top constitutional experts that the ERA is now part of our Constitution.
It’s long overdue to recognize the will of the American people. In line with my duty to the Constitution and the country, I declare that the 28th Amendment is now the law, guaranteeing equal rights and protections for all Americans, no matter their sex.”
Aaron Blake of the Post evaluated Biden’s claim and declared the Equal Rights Amendment had not been ratified.
“Sometimes crazy things happen at the end of a presidency,” Blake wrote. “But rarely do we see something like this: An outgoing president suddenly declaring there is another amendment to the Constitution.”
Blake added Biden was correct that 38 states needed to ratify the amendment – as Virginia did – but concluded there were two issues:
One is the deadline issue. Congress initially passed the amendment with a seven-year deadline for states to ratify it. Congress later extended that deadline by three years, to 1982, but the ERA still came up three states shy. The three additional states came much later.
The second is that, in the 1970s, five states voted to rescind their previous votes to ratify the amendment. In other words, only 35 states ratified it by the deadline, and only 33 states currently want it ratified — at least if you look at their most recent word on the matter.
Blake concluded, “But a 28th Amendment has not suddenly been appended to the Constitution per Biden’s decree — there are still only 27 — nor does there appear to be much hope that it will soon.”
