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Archive 1

Archive 2

Article needs to be in the past tense

The article needs to be re-voiced in the past tense. The ERA was a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It is not currently a proposed amendment, as the tone of the article suggests. The distinction is legally important.

On 25 September 1789, Congress dispatched the first twelve articles of amendment - the so-called Bill of Rights. The articles proposed as Amendments III through XII were ratified together on 15 December 1791; thus, they became part of the U.S. Constitution as Amendments I through X.

On 8 May 1992, the second of the 12 articles from 1789 was finally ratified and became part of the U.S. Constitution as Amendment XXVII. This was possible because the Congress did not assign a time limit for ratification when it proposed the first 12 articles of amendment in 1789.

The first of those 12 articles still has not been ratified (and most likely won't be), but ratification remains a legal possibility. There are also a number of other articles of amendment that were proposed prior to the 20th century that might theoretically still get ratified because Congress attached no deadline to them.

But that was not the case with the ERA. Like almost all articles of amendment proposed by Congress in the 20th century, it had to be ratified within seven years; or it was automatically nullified. As that deadline approached in 1979, Congress passed a resolution extending the deadline by three years. The ERA finally became a nullity in 1982, three votes shy of ratification.

In order for the ERA to become a proposed amendment again, the Congress must introduce it again (or a national constitutional convention must be held that introduces it) and dispatch it to the states for ratification by 38 of the 50 states.

The ratification process will need to start all over from the beginning. The previous 35 ratifications will not count because they were for the previously proposed article of amendment. When that proposal became a nullity in 1982, its ratifications also became a nullity.

Since this article is about the previously proposed article of amendment, which is now a nullity; this article should be voiced in the past tense. When the ERA is proposed again, 1) it will be a completely new proposed article of amendment that is part of a new process of ratification, and 2) it may or may not use the same language as the original ERA. Now would be a good time for proponents of a new ERA to consider how that proposed article of amendment might be worded. 73.162.218.153 (talk) 21:33, 15 June 2017 (UTC)

You have to keep in mind that whether the ERA is still open to being ratified is disputed. One State has gone so far as to ratify the ERA.[1] Because the ERA's status is unclear, this article is written in the present tense. Your claim that the ERA is dead may be correct, but Wikipedia must be neutral on this matter and can't predict the future. SMP0328. (talk) 21:49, 15 June 2017 (UTC)

It's not disputed by anyone with any legal knowledge. The 1972 proposal is as dead as the dodo. It was not ratified by the requisite number of states prior to the expiration of the time limit THAT WAS A EXPLICIT PART OF THE TEXT. Nothing can change that. The Congressional attempt to extend it was unConstitutional on its face: Congress does NOT have the power to change an Amendment after states have ratified it. If Congress has that power, then they have the power to, for example, pass an Amendment that says "puppies are wonderful," and then after the 37th state has ratified the original version, change the text to say "The Bill of Rights is hereby repealed" and buy the votes of the Rhode Island legislature to give it the 38th ratification needed to enact it.

The 1972 proposal is dead, and all of the state ratifications died with it. That has nothing to do with the merits of the EPA, it is a simple matter of separation of powers. Congress can't change a proposed Amendment once it has been submitted to the states for ratification.

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@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 :You have to keep in mind that whether the ERA is still open to being ratified is disputed. One State has gone so far as to ratify the ERA.[http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/21/520962541/nevada-on-cusp-of-ratifying-equal-rights-amendment-35-years-after-deadline] Because the ERA's status is unclear, this article is written in the present tense. Your claim that the ERA is dead may be correct, but Wikipedia must be [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|neutral]] on this matter and [[Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#Wikipedia is not a crystal ball|can't predict the future]]. [[User:SMP0328.|SMP0328.]] ([[User talk:SMP0328.|talk]]) 21:49, 15 June 2017 (UTC)
+::It's not disputed by anyone with any legal knowledge.  The 1972 proposal is as dead as the dodo.  It was not ratified by the requisite number of states prior to the expiration of the time limit THAT WAS A EXPLICIT PART OF THE TEXT.  Nothing can change that.  The Congressional attempt to extend it was unConstitutional on its face: Congress does NOT have the power to change an Amendment after states have ratified it.  If Congress has that power, then they have the power to, for example, pass an Amendment that says "puppies are wonderful," and then after the 37th state has ratified the original version, change the text to say "The Bill of Rights is hereby repealed" and buy the votes of the Rhode Island legislature to give it the 38th ratification needed to enact it.
+::The 1972 proposal is dead, and all of the state ratifications died with it.  That has nothing to do with the merits of the EPA, it is a simple matter of separation of powers.  Congress can't change a proposed Amendment once it has been submitted to the states for ratification.
 == External links modified ==