The House’s vote to scrap a 1982 deadline to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution removed one hurdle but could add to existing litigation and make it even more likely that the amendment’s fate is ultimately decided in court.
The resolution, H. J. Res. 79, was passed by a 232-183 vote on Thursday amid a swirling legal debate over multiple state-level lawsuits associated with the decades-old ratification deadline. The move was criticized by conservatives and Republican lawmakers who pegged the resolution a backdoor attempt to secure additional legal protections for abortion.
The measure would revive the 1972 constitutional ...