Adventures in the Article V Wonderland: Justiciability and Legal Sufficiency of the ERA Ratifications

Authors

Danaya C. Wright

Abstract

This Article examines the paradoxical world of Article V—the amending power of the Constitution—in light of the recent ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). It explores the question of whether Article V issues are justiciable, what role the federal and state courts play in determining Article V procedures, and who has the jurisdiction to evaluate the legal sufficiency of state ratifications. This is a confounding area of law, and with a few judicial precedents, some textualism and originalism arguments, and recourse to logic and scholarship, I conclude that the ERA is validly the Twenty-Eighth Amendment. I provide a detailed analysis of the congressional deadline and rescission issues that are currently before the courts and explore the unique role of the states in exercising their Article V powers to effect constitutional change.

Recommended Citation

Danaya C. Wright, Adventures in the Article V Wonderland: Justiciability and Legal Sufficiency of the ERA Ratifications, 12 U.C. Irvine L. Rev. 1019 (2022).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.uci.edu/ucilr/vol12/iss3/10