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1
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The Ninety-second Congress of the United States of
3America, at its Second Session, adopted a Joint Resolution to
4amend the Constitution of the United States of America with
5language commonly referred to as the Equal Rights Amendment
6with a deadline for ratification by the states of March 22,
71979; and
 
8    WHEREAS, In 1978, Congress passed an extension of the
9ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment from the original
10deadline of seven years to June 30, 1982; and
 
11    WHEREAS, At the time of the extension, only 35 of the
12necessary 38 states had ratified the Equal Rights Amendment
13with 24 of those ratifications referring to the original 1979
14deadline; and
 
15    WHEREAS, The United States District Court ruled on December
1623, 1981 in Idaho v. Freeman that the Equal Rights Amendment
17Time Extension voted by Congress was unconstitutional and that
18the rescissions of States from the Equal Rights Amendment were
19constitutional; and
 
20    WHEREAS, After the expiration of the June 20, 1982 extended
21deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, in the

 

 

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1appeal of Idaho v Freeman (NOW v Idaho), the United States
2Supreme Court vacated the district's opinion and remanded to
3the District Court with direction to dismiss the case as moot,
4thus indicating that the Equal Rights Amendment was no longer
5before the states for ratification; and
 
6    WHEREAS, No additional states ratified the Equal Rights
7Amendment by the June 30, 1982 extended deadline; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Five states rescinded their ratification of the
9Equal Rights Amendment prior to the expiration of the original
101979 deadline for ratification, thereby reducing the number of
11states that had ratified the amendment to 30; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Congress reintroduced the Equal Rights Amendment
13in 1983 and failed to receive the two-thirds majority vote
14required to send the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for
15ratification; and
 
16    Whereas, Only 30 states have ratified the Equal Rights
17Amendment in its original form; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Both the original and extended deadline for the
19ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment have expired; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Congress has not reintroduced the Equal Rights

 

 

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1Amendment and any extension of the original deadline would be
2unconstitutional under Idaho v. Freeman; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Any action by Illinois to ratify the Equal Rights
4Amendment would occur after the March 22, 1979 deadline and the
5ratification of the current Equal Rights Amendment is no longer
6an available option to the Illinois Legislature; and
 
7    WHEREAS, It would be preferable to start over with a new
8Equal Rights Amendment that addresses many of the concerns that
9have been raised about the original Equal Rights Amendment over
10the intervening years; and
 
11    WHEREAS, The Illinois Constitution guarantees that equal
12protection of the laws shall not be denied or abridged on
13account of sex by the State or its units of local government
14and school districts; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Language similar to that in the Illinois
16Constitution is preferable to the original language of the
17Equal Rights Amendment; and
 
18    WHEREAS, The United States Constitution can be amended
19either by Congress submitting an amendment to the states for
20ratification or by two-thirds of the states calling for a
21Constitutional Convention; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The Illinois General Assembly supports passage of
2the Equal Rights Amendment in a modified form to reflect the
3language of the Illinois Constitution; therefore, be it
 
4    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL
5ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
6CONCURRING HEREIN, that we hereby apply to Congress to call a
7limited constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing
8to the states for ratification an amendment to the United
9States Constitution; and be it further
 
10    RESOLVED, That this amendment should be worded as follows,
11without substantial alteration: "The equal protection of the
12laws shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex by the
13United States or any State."; and be it further
 
14    RESOLVED, That this application constitutes a continuing
15application in accordance with Article V of the United States
16Constitution until at least two-thirds of the legislatures of
17the several states have made application for a limited
18constitutional convention; and be it further
 
19    RESOLVED, That, if the limited convention called by
20Congress is not limited to the topics proposed in this
21resolution, that this resolution calling for a convention shall

 

 

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1be considered null and void and legally insufficient to be
2considered under Article V as one of the two-thirds of the
3several state resolutions necessary to call a limited
4constitutional convention; if a limited convention were to
5consider topics beyond the limited scope of this call for a
6constitutional convention, delegates, representatives, or
7participants shall be selected by the citizens of the State of
8Illinois to participate in the limited convention and shall be
9permitted to vote only on proposed amendments topically
10contained within the scope of this call and shall be instructed
11to vote against any other proposed amendments; and be it
12further
 
13    RESOLVED, That, if two-thirds of the legislatures of the
14several states make application to Congress to call a limited
15constitutional convention, the State of Illinois requests that
16such a convention be called not later than six months after
17Congress receives the necessary applications from state
18legislatures; and be it further
 
19    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
20presented to the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House
21of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore and Secretary of
22the United States Senate, the members of the Illinois
23congressional delegation, the presiding officers of each
24chamber of each state legislature in the United States, and the

 

 

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1news media of the State of Illinois.