The Justice Department on Wednesday undercut efforts to revive the dormant Equal Rights Amendment, finding that an expired pair of deadlines imposed by Congress on ratification of the measure means it's too late for additional states to ratify it now. Conservatives hailed the DOJ's move as a major victory, saying the ERA is a threat to their stances on abortion and transgender rights. “Because three-fourths of the state legislatures did not ratify before the deadline that Congress imposed, the Equal Rights Amendment has failed of adoption and is no longer pending before the States,” Engel wrote. FLASHBACK: WHY THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT IS A FEMINIST DISASTEROn Tuesday, supporters of the ERA filed a federal lawsuit in Massachusetts aimed at clearing a legal path for adoption of the amendment. “We are not surprised that the Trump administration acted swiftly to declare its opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment," said Wendy Murphy, a lawyer for Equal Means Equal, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit in Massachusetts.

Source: Fox News January 09, 2020 00:21 UTC