SJ0060 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SJ0060 LRB102 28936 LNS 40831 r

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, In 1972, the Ninety-second Congress of the United States of America, at its Second Session, in both houses, by a constitutional majority of two-thirds, adopted the following proposition to amend the Constitution of the United States of America:

"JOINT RESOLUTION RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED (TWO-THIRDS OF EACH HOUSE CONCURRING THEREIN), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as a part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission by the Congress:

"ARTICLE ______

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.""; and

WHEREAS, Article V of the Constitution of the United States sets forth a two-step amending procedure; and

WHEREAS, The first step of the Article V amending procedure is proposal of an amendment either by two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress or by a convention called by application of two-thirds of the States; and

WHEREAS, The second and final step of the Article V amending procedure is ratification of an amendment by three-fourths of the States; and

WHEREAS, The Constitution of the United States does not limit the time for States to ratify an amendment; and

WHEREAS, The Constitution of the United States does not grant Congress the authority to limit the time for States to ratify amendments; and

WHEREAS, A time limit on State ratifications of amendments is a substantive change to the Constitution of the United States; and

WHEREAS, To have full force and effect, any substantive change to the Constitution of the United States must be within the text of an amendment, where it can be approved as part of each of the two steps of the Article V amending procedure; and

WHEREAS, The time limit on State ratifications of the Equal Rights Amendment is within only the internal resolution used by Congress in the proposal step and not within the text of the amendment; and

WHEREAS, In the ratification step, the States ratified only the text of the Equal Rights Amendment; and

WHEREAS, The time limit within the internal resolution used by Congress in 1972 to propose the Equal Rights Amendment is, thus, without force or effect; and

WHEREAS, The most recent constitutional amendment to be proposed by two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress was the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment in 1978; and

WHEREAS, Congress included a time limit within the text of the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, in order for that time limit to have full force and effect; and

WHEREAS, The time limit for the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment ended before completion of the second and final step of ratification of the amendment by three-fourths of the States; and

WHEREAS, Because the time limit was within the text of the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, that time limit had full force and effect and that amendment did expire in 1985; and

WHEREAS, The so-called Madison Amendment, relating to Compensation of Members of Congress, is the Twenty-Seventh Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and

WHEREAS, In 1789, by two-thirds vote of each house of the First Congress, the Madison Amendment completed the proposal step of Article V; and

WHEREAS, Approximately 203 years later, the Madison Amendment completed the ratification step of Article V through ratification by three-fourths of the States; and

WHEREAS, In 1992, having met the strict two-step requirements of Article V, the Madison Amendment was published by the Administration of President George H.W. Bush as the Twenty-Seventh Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and

WHEREAS, Following publication of the Madison Amendment, Congress affirmed the Madison Amendment as the Twenty-Seventh Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and

WHEREAS, As of January 27, 2020, three-fourths of the States have ratified the Equal Rights Amendment; and

WHEREAS, Unlike the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment does not have a time limit in its text where it would be of full force and effect; and

WHEREAS, In contrast to the Madison Amendment which took 203 years to ratify, the Equal Rights Amendment took a mere 48 years to ratify; and

WHEREAS, The text of Article V of the Constitution references only ratification, not rescission; and

WHEREAS, Samuel Johnson's dictionary of 1755 defines "ratify" as "to confirm; to settle"; and

WHEREAS, Bouvier's Law Dictionary of 1856, considered to be the first American legal dictionary, states that a ratification once done, "cannot be revoked or recalled"; and

WHEREAS, James Madison wrote in a July 20, 1788 letter to Alexander Hamilton that ratification is "in toto and for ever"; and

WHEREAS, The various attempts throughout history to rescind the ratifications of the Constitution of the United States or its amendments, including the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth Amendments, have never been honored; and

WHEREAS, The Equal Rights Amendment now meets the strict requirements of Article V of the Constitution of the United States to be added as the Twenty-Eighth Amendment; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that the General Assembly urges the Administration of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. to publish without delay the Equal Rights Amendment as the Twenty-Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the General Assembly urges the Congress of the United States to pass a joint resolution, affirming the Equal Rights Amendment as the Twenty-Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the General Assembly calls on other States to join in this action by passing the same or similar resolutions; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President and Vice President of the United States, to Members of the United States Congress, and to the Archivist of the United States.