The Equal Right Amendment (ERA) was an unratified constitutional revision defeated in the 1970s. Thanks to the intervention of conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, the ERA failed to achieve ratification from 38 states, falling three short. It even got a seven-year extension until 1982 thanks to President Jimmy Carter, and yet the ERA still failed to garner a three-fourths majority of the states.

This poorly written amendment would have essentially erased all the protections for women by creating no distinction between men and women. It was a proto-transgender movement inspired by third-wave feminism that declared there is no difference between the sexes. Plus, the Constitution already bans sex-based discrimination, making the ERA dangerously superfluous because of its vagueness.

Nevertheless, late last week, President Joe Biden declared this already defeated amendment the “law of the land.”

In a statement on January 17, with mere days left in his presidency, Biden said: “We, as a nation, must affirm and protect women’s full equality once and for all. I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: The 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex.”

Then, to make it seem more “official,” Vice President Kamala Harris doubled down by also declaring the ERA constitutional law.

The Equal Rights Amendment is the 28th Amendment, and it is the law of the land. pic.twitter.com/jl1Ewg2JAf

— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP46Archive) January 17, 2025

A Biden official later clarified that the president wasn’t being a dictator; he was merely throwing his support behind the ERA push, though his VP saying the same thing makes it obvious gaslighting by the outgoing administration.

This ERA ratification scheme was championed by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who called Biden’s boneheaded move “an incredible moment for reproductive freedom, and a historic day for equality.”

Why this sudden push to declare the ERA a ratified 28th Amendment? Well, according to Democrat logic, the last three necessary states to ratify the ERA did so between 2017 and 2020. However, six states overturned their ratifications between the 1970s and today, leaving the count still at 35. Even President Biden’s appointed archivist said that the ERA cannot be made part of the Constitution 40 years past its deadline.

What Biden did by declaring the ERA the 28th Amendment was both unconstitutional and well outside his job privileges. It also sets a dangerous precedent. Many Americans find the ERA deeply polarizing. Princeton University professor Robert P. George illustrates the dilemma created by Biden falsely declaring a change to the Constitution: “Here, though, is what we cannot so easily manage, and what therefore threatens all the social goods that the Constitution provides — what threatens, in other words, the Rule of Law: deep and widespread disagreement among public officials and among our people about what the provisions of the Constitution are” (emphasis his).

In other words, President Unity threw a stupid and unnecessary controversy into the mix leading up to President Donald Trump’s inauguration yesterday. One that the Supreme Court of the United States will unquestionably shoot down.

This might actually be the most illegal and tyrannical thing Biden has ever done. SCOTUS will nuke this from orbit. https://t.co/lpDUNcsjDy

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) January 17, 2025

At the end of the day, Biden trying to strong-arm a constitutional amendment into being perfectly illustrates what a horrific president he was. He’s a consummate representation of the radical Left and its contempt for our institutions and Constitution. His declaration, backed by his vacuous VP, is meaningless, but the tyrannical precedent is vile and should be condemned utterly.