SALT LAKE CITY — It’s been more than 50 years since the Equal Rights Amendment cleared Congress. But what would be the 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution has languished, unable to garner support from a three-fourths majority of state legislatures.
A majority of states voted to ratify the amendment in the year since it passed in 1972, though the amendment failed to get support from 38 states required before a pair of contested deadlines passed in 1982. Several states have since revoked their ratifications.
After Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the amendment in 2020, the Justice Department issued an opinion stating the legislative approval process must start over in order for the amendment to become binding.
Utah is among a handful of states never to have ratified the amendment, though Democratic lawmakers have tried to pass the amendment through the Utah Legislature multiple times in recent years — without so much as a committee hearing to show for it. Advocacy groups have also rallied lawmakers to approve the amendment.
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Written by BRIDGER BEAL-CVETKO, KSL.com.
Copyright KSL.com.