(File Photo: Source for photo: President Joe Biden speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

(Reported by Danielle Smith of Keystone News Service)

(Harrisburg, PA) With just a few days before President Joe Biden leaves office, more than 140 nonprofits are urging him to act on the Equal Rights Amendment. Passed by Congress in 1972 and ratified by 38 states by 2020, the ERA ensures constitutional gender equality. Amy Widestrom of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania says it prohibits discrimination based on sex, empowers Congress to enforce it, and takes effect two years after ratification. Widestrom points out some argue the ERA missed its congressional deadline, but legal scholars say the Constitution doesn’t allow or require such deadlines for amendments. They point to the 27th Amendment, introduced with the Bill of Rights and ratified centuries later, as proof deadlines are not binding.