U.S. Senator. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska who voted along in conjunction with Democrats for a measure to ensure equal rights for women as well as males to the Constitution The resolution did not get enough support for an official vote.
“‘Equality of rights guaranteed by the law will not be abridged or denied through any state in the United States or by any state due to sexuality or sexual orientation,'” she declared in the Senate floor prior to the vote. “It’s easy like that … . This is the essence of the Equal Rights Amendment.”
Murkowski declared that equality of treatment between females and males should not be a subject of debate. She she cited research that shows the vast majority of Americans agree with it.
“I believe that the majority of people in the United States believe that it’s already element of the Constitution which means it’s already protected under it,” she said.
To prove it’s not the case, she pointed to remarks made in 2010 by Supreme Judicial Chief Antonin Scalia, who said the Constitution doesn’t ban discrimination based on sexual preference.
Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine were the only Republican senators who voted for the resolution, bringing the number of yeas to 51. It takes 60 votes to override a filibuster, and the measure has been rebuffed.
The Equal Rights Amendment has a long and storied history. Congress approved the amendment in 1972. However, 38 states needed to sign it into law, and this didn’t happen until the year 2020, almost 40 years beyond the date.
The bill introduced that was introduced in the Senate Thursday the measure, which Murkowski has cosponsored with her, could delay the deadline for filing.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, voted no. He declined to grant an interview to explain his reasons. In an email statement the spokesperson for his office stated that Sullivan has always sought for women’s rights, however, he believes that the resolution is a case of “serious constitutional weaknesses.”
“Fortunately equality of protection for everyone is guaranteed in the Civil Rights Act and the 14th Amendment,” Sullivan’s spokesperson said in the email.
On both sides, advocates have also claimed on both sides that Equal Rights Amendment could lay the groundwork for the right to abortion as a constitutional right.
