SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 10

56th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2023

INTRODUCED BY

Siah Correa Hemphill

 

 

 

 

 

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING 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.

 

     WHEREAS, in 1972, the ninety-second United States congress, at its second session, in both houses, by a constitutional majority of two-thirds, adopted the following proposition to amend the United States constitution:

     "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 5 of the United States constitution sets forth a two-step amending procedure; and

     WHEREAS, the first step of the Article 5 amending procedure is the 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 5 amending procedure is ratification of an amendment by three-fourths of the states; and

     WHEREAS, the United States constitution does not limit the time for states to ratify an amendment; and

     WHEREAS, the United States constitution does not grant congress the unilateral 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 United States constitution; and

     WHEREAS, to have full force and effect, any substantive change to the United States constitution, such as a time limit on ratification, must be within the text of an amendment, where it can also be approved by states as part of each of the two steps of the Article 5 amending procedure: a proposal step and a ratification step; and

     WHEREAS, in the proposal step for the Equal Rights Amendment, the time limit on state ratifications was only in the preamble section of the resolution by congress and not within the text of the amendment presented to states for state approval; and

     WHEREAS, in the ratification step, the states ratified only the text of the Equal Rights Amendment; and

     WHEREAS, a time limit was only approved by congress in 1972, but not subsequently approved by the states and is thus without force or effect; and

     WHEREAS, in comparison, in 1978, a two-thirds' vote of both houses of congress passed the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment and included a time line within the text of the amendment offered to states for ratification; 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 expired in 1985; and

     WHEREAS, in comparison, the text of the twenty-first and twenty-second amendments to the United States constitution both include a time line within the text of each amendment, and such time lines were ratified by three-fourths of the states within the agreed time line; and

     WHEREAS, in 1789, by two-thirds' vote of each house of the first congress, the so-called Madison Amendment relating to compensation of members of congress completed the proposal step of Article 5; and

     WHEREAS, approximately two hundred three years later, the Madison Amendment completed the ratification step of Article 5 through ratification by three-fourths of the states; and

     WHEREAS, in 1992, having met the strict two-step requirements of Article 5, the Madison Amendment was published by the United States archivist during the administration of President George H.W. Bush as the twenty-seventh amendment to the United States constitution; and

     WHEREAS, following publication of the Madison Amendment, congress affirmed the Madison Amendment as the twenty-seventh amendment to the United States constitution; 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 two hundred three years to ratify, the Equal Rights Amendment took a mere forty-eight years to ratify; and

     WHEREAS, the text of Article 5 of the United States constitution gives the states the power of 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 United States constitution 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 5 of the United States constitution to be added as the twenty-eighth amendment;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the legislature urge the administration of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. to publish without delay the Equal Rights Amendment as the twenty-eighth amendment to the United States constitution; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislature urge congress to pass a joint resolution affirming the Equal Rights Amendment as the twenty-eighth amendment to the United States constitution; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislature call on other states to join in this action by passing the same or similar resolutions; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the president and vice president of the United States, the New Mexico congressional delegation and the United States archivist.

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