ERA Troubles

Its backers want more time

In 1972 Kentucky readily ratified the Equal Rights Amendment. But last week, after a noisy debate, state representatives voted 61 to 28 to change their minds, making Kentucky the fourth state to rescind approval of the amendment that would ban discrimination on the basis of sex. Some constitutional experts doubt that a legislature can legally have second thoughts about ratification. Nonetheless, the vote in Kentucky was another sign that the ERA is in deep trouble, even though it has been approved by 35 states, three short of the number needed to make it part of the Constitution.

To put more pressure on holdouts, the National Organization for Women since February 1977 has been urging supporters to hold conventions and other meetings only in states that have approved the amendment. But the boycott has produced no new votes for the ERA and is being challenged in court by Missouri and Nevada as an illegal restraint of trade.

Now ERA supporters seem to be running out of time: the measure will die if not ratified by 38 states before March 22, 1979. This week the amendment's backers will begin putting pressure on Congress to extend the deadline for ratification. On Wednesday, March 22, they will try to buttonhole Senators and Representatives; they intend to do so again on the 22nd of every month until Congress acts or the ERA expires. Although Justice Department lawyers believe Congress has the right to extend the deadline without requiring that the ratification process start over from scratch, some legal scholars disagree. Thus any extension would probably be challenged in court.

Besides, say some ERA opponents, to change the ratification rules now would be unfair. Replies NOW President Eleanor Smeal: "The deadline focuses attention on time, rather than on the merits of the amendment. There can be no time limits on equality."

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