Constitution: Travis Crum is professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. Professor Crum’s scholarship explores the relationship between voting rights, race and federalism. He is an expert on voting rights, election law and Constitutional law.

Here he discusses the legal questions implicated by President Biden’s statement that the Equal Rights Amendment is part of the Constitution.

"Biden's statement raises several questions.1) whether states can rescind their ratification of a Constitutional amendment; 2) whether Congress can impose a deadline on ratification; 3) if Congress can impose a deadline, may Congress subsequently extend that deadline; and 4) whether the president has any role to play in proclaiming an amendment’s validity.

"A lot of the debate is focused on questions two through four. Here are some historical facts relevant to answering question one. Between 1973 and 1978, four States—Kentucky, Idaho, Nebraska, and Tennessee—claimed to rescind their ratifications. South Dakota also claimed that its ratification was only valid until the initial seven-year deadline. Then, in 2021, North Dakota purported to withdraw its ratification.

"The question of rescission came up during the ratifications of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, and states that had purportedly rescinded their ratifications were counted toward ratification. As to the Fourteenth Amendment, Ohio and New Jersey claimed to have rescinded their ratifications. On July 20, 1868, Secretary of State William Seward announced the Fourteenth Amendment’s ratification. In so doing, he flagged that Ohio and New Jersey had rescinded their ratifications, and that it was contested whether those rescissions were valid.

"Then, on July 21, 1868, both houses of Congress adopted resolutions declaring the Fourteenth Amendment to be part of the Constitution. Next, on July 28, 1868, Seward issued a second proclamation affirming the Fourteenth Amendment’s validity; this time, Seward noted the Ohio and New Jersey rescissions but did not opine on their validity.  

"In 1870, New York purported to rescind its ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment. On March 30, 1870, Secretary of State Hamilton Fish proclaimed the Fifteenth Amendment’s adoption and stated that New York had claimed to withdraw its ratification. Nevertheless, Fish listed New York as a ratifying state.