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RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina would ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution under bills filed in both the state House and the state Senate Tuesday.
Congress sent the ERA to the states in 1972. The amendment, which would guarantee equal rights for women, eventually died after it fell three states short of the 38 it needed to ratify it. North Carolina was one of 15 states that declined to ratify the amendment at the time.
Sen. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham, and Rep. Carla Cunningham, D-Mecklenburg, are the primary sponsors of bills filed Tuesday, but Cunningham acknowledged during a news conference that the measures may not be received well in the Republican-controlled General Assembly, particularly because the deadline for ratification has passed by several decades.
Present-day supporters of the ERA often point to a legal analysis published in 1997 that suggests how Congress could circumvent the ERA's expiration date. Its authors argue precedents regarding time limits in previous amendment ratifications and the potential for Congress to adjust the initial time limit on the ERA’s ratification make the amendment viable if they can get three more states to ratify it.
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