Law Commons^™

Era Project Faq On The Court Of Appeals Decision In Illinois V. Ferreiro, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

Illinois v. Ferriero is a lawsuit filed by the Attorneys General of the last three states that ratified the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) — Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia — asking the court to require that the ERA be officially published by the U.S. Archivist as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. On March 5, 2021, the District Court dismissed the lawsuit on standing grounds, meaning that the three states had not shown that they suffered a legally recognized injury. The court reasoned that the Archivist’s actions have no legal effect and, as such, the states were not harmed by the …

The Sex Equality Gap: How The 20th Century Sex Equality Paradigm Continues To Leave Women Of Color Behind, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

The United States has a sex equality problem that disproportionately impacts women of color. Despite the passage of sweeping federal, state, and local laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in employment, education, public benefits, housing, healthcare, voting, and in significant aspects of the U.S. economy and society, women — and particularly women of color — continue to experience persistent sex discrimination. These laws, starting with the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, make up what we call the 20th Century Sex Equality Paradigm.

At face value, such laws can be …

Possible Avenues For Action Related To The Equal Rights Amendment, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

Resolutions have been introduced into both the House and the Senate declaring the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to be fully ratified as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. There are other legislative steps that—while short of declaring the ERA fully ratified — could be taken to advance the measure toward final ratification, and to create political facts that would reinforce the position that the ERA is already the 28th Amendment.

Columbia Law School’S Era Project Releases New Policy Paper Demonstrating Race-Based Gap In Who Benefits From Sex Discrimination Laws, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

New York, New York – On February 27, 2023, Columbia Law School’s Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) Project released a new policy paper showing that despite sweeping federal, state, and local laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in virtually all significant aspects of the U.S. economy and society, white women have been the primary beneficiaries of sex equality laws, leaving women of color significantly behind.

The Impacts Of Compulsory Prison Labor Ballot Initiatives On Pregnant & Postpartum Incarcerated Women Of Color, Candace Bond-Theriault

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution purported to abolish the institution of slavery, but it created an exception for compulsory labor performed by people convicted of crimes. In November 2022, voters in Alabama, Vermont, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Oregon will be asked to vote on ballot initiatives that would strike language from their state constitutions that currently allows states to force incarcerated people to perform labor with minimal or no pay.1 This policy brief examines the legal language of these ballot initiatives and evaluates whether each measure, if approved by voters, will actually close the compulsory labor loophole. In …

Era Project Summary Of Argument Before Pa Supreme Court On Whether Medicaid Abortion Ban Amounts To Sex Discrimination, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

This morning, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, a case in which reproductive rights advocates have challenged the state’s ban on Medicaid funding for abortion (Coverage Ban), arguing that the ban violates the state constitution’s explicit prohibitions against sex discrimination.

Era Project Summary Of Argument Before Pa Supreme Court On Whether Medicaid Abortion Ban Amounts To Sex Discrimination, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

On October 26, 2022, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, a case in which reproductive rights advocates have challenged the state’s ban on Medicaid funding for abortion (Coverage Ban), arguing that the ban violates the state constitution’s explicit prohibitions against sex discrimination.

Faq On The U.S. Archivist And The Future Of The Equal Rights Amendment, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

On Wednesday, September 21, 2022, the Senate will hold hearings on the nomination of Colleen Shogan as the new Archivist of the United States. This FAQ offers a short primer on what the Archivist does, her official role in the finalization of proposed amendments to the U.S. Constitution, including the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), and the impact of Archivist action on the validity of the ERA.

Parading The Horribles: The Risks Of Expanding Religious Exemptions, Law, Rights, And Religion Project

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

People of faith now have a constitutional right to practice their religion—even when doing so conflicts with a government law or policy — that is more rigorously protected than nearly any other right. Some states have passed bills that provide an even broader right to such “religious exemptions” from the law than provided under the U.S. Constitution. Other religious exemption bills have been introduced and await consideration.

A Religious Right To Abortion: Legal History And Analysis, Law, Rights, And Religion Project

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

There is a long and rich history of religious support, across a wide range of faith traditions, for the right to reproductive autonomy, including abortion. A number of religious denominations, including the Presbyterian Church, Reform and Conservative Judaism, the United Church of Christ, and the Unitarian Universalist Association, support a legal right to abortion in most or all circumstances. Several religious denominations have even — long before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — issued statements explaining that the right to reproductive health care is an essential aspect of their members’ religious …

Columbia Law Experts Submit Two Briefs To Supreme Court In Free Speech/Lgb Rights Case, Law, Rights, And Religion Project

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

Columbia Law School faculty and policy teams submitted amicus briefs to the Supreme Court on Friday in 303 Creative v. Elenis, a case the Court will decide next term.

The Equal Rights Amendment And Lgbtq Rights, Including Marriage Equality, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

Below, we provide an analysis of the potential for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to strengthen protections for LGBTQ rights, including marriage equality. Currently pending before the U.S. Senate is a resolution that would lift any congressionally imposed deadline for final ratification of the ERA. Lifting that deadline would remove the last legal impediment to adding the ERA to the Constitution, which would then constitutionalize, and thus secure, rights currently enjoyed by LGBTQ people that are vulnerable to reversal by the Supreme Court in a future case.

Faq On The New York State Equality Amendment, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

Adopted in 1938, the New York State Constitution’s equality protections fall far short of a modern notion of equality that would protect the rights of all New Yorkers. Legislation currently pending in the New York Legislature would update the state’s constitution by prohibiting forms of discrimination that are currently unrecognized by the law.

Statement From Columbia Law School’S Center For Gender And Sexuality Law On The Supreme Court Decision Overruling The Constitutional Right To Abortion, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

The Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization signals a major break with at least three generations of constitutional law. This opinion eliminates not only constitutional protections for abortion, but well-settled legal principles on which fundamental rights have rested for over 60 years. “Within a 24-hour period the Supreme Court ruled on the one hand that abortion rights are a local issue to be decided by each state independently, while on the other, states are barred from making local decisions about how to regulate guns,” said Katherine Franke, James L. Dohr Professor of Law and Director of …

Era And Abortion Talking Points, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

The Supreme Court has voted to strike down Roe v. Wade in a leaked draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning 50 years of precedent protecting the fundamental right to abortion. If this draft indeed represents the majority opinion of the Supreme Court, it will be a monumental setback for women's rights and signals that many of the most basic protections in our society, starting with reproductive rights, are under threat.

Critical Race Theory: Faq, Candace Bond-Theriault

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

CRT is not a comprehensive theory of law. Instead, it is an invitation to consider the role that law, even “good” civil rights laws, plays in the creation and maintenance of racial injustice.

Columbia Law School’S Center For Gender And Sexuality Law On Leaked Dobbs Opinion, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

The leaked Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, signals a major break with at least three generations of constitutional law. Should this opinion be officially issued by the Court, it will eliminate not only constitutional protections for abortion, but well-settled legal principles on which basic personal rights have rested for over 60 years.

What Comes Now? Religious Liberty And The End Of Roe, Law, Rights, And Religion Project

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

New York, NY – The Law, Rights, and Religion Project at Columbia Law School, an academic think tank that conducts research and policy analysis on the complex ways in which religious liberty rights interact with other fundamental rights, has a number of materials that can help to shed light on three key issues around the possible end of Roe v. Wade in light of the draft Supreme Court opinion released yesterday.

Biden Administration Revises Federal Government Position On Validity Of The Equal Rights Amendment, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

Today the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) released a new opinion on the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). This opinion revises a 2020 OLC opinion issued under the Trump administration that declared the ERA a dead letter.

New Report Documenting Abortion Bans In Protestant & Secular Hospitals In The U.S. South, Law, Rights, And Religion Project

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

Hospitals across the U.S. South strictly regulate the provision of abortion, leading to delays and denials of care for patients facing severe pregnancy complications according to this report released by Columbia Law School’s Law, Rights, and Religion Project (LRRP) in partnership with investigative reporter Amy Littlefield.

The Era Brief October 2021, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

We are excited to return to campus and rejoin the vibrant law school community. Our work at the ERA Project has taken on a renewed sense of urgency as we seek to advance sex equality in a time when the right to bodily autonomy is under threat from restrictions on reproductive and transgender rights.

The Equal Rights Amendment And The Equality Act: Talking Points, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

The Equal Rights Amendment, first proposed nearly 100 years ago, is still needed today.

• The ERA is a constitutional amendment that would protect against discrimination on the basis of sex—including on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.
• The ERA would also usher in advancements in sex equality in all three branches of government, empower advocates, and encourage recognition of related forms of discrimination such as pregnancy discrimination.
• By including the ERA in our Constitution, the United States would catch up with the more than 100 other countries with constitutional protections against sex-based discrimination.

The Equal Rights Amendment And The Equality Act: Two Equality Measures Explained, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

When the United States Constitution was written in 1787, its defining phrase “We the people” did not include women, LGBTQ+ people, people of color, or immigrants. In 2021, these groups, among others, still lack fundamental equality under the law. Two pieces of legislation are pending in Congress that would strengthen legal protections against discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity: the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and the Equality Act.

Columbia Law School's Era Project Files Amicus Brief With Pa Supreme Court Explaining Why Banning Public Funding For Abortion Violates The State Era, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

On October 13, 2021, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) Project at Columbia Law School submitted an amicus — or friend of the court — brief with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court explaining why a state ban on public funding for abortion is a form of sex discrimination, in violation of the state’s Equal Rights Amendment. In the brief filed in Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, the ERA Project provided the Court with an overview of how the denial of reproductive health care in general, and access to abortion in particular, has been found by the …

Our Work In The World, Law, Rights, And Religion Project

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

Our work is having a significant impact on the meaning of religious freedom and developments in the role of religion in public life. Read on to find out how we’re shaping the discourse around religious liberty.

The Era Brief June 2021, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

At the ERA Project we get asked all the time: “Why do we need the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)?” “Doesn’t the Constitution already prohibit sex discrimination?” “What difference would it make to add explicit sex discrimination protections in the Constitution as the 28th Amendment?”

Religion's Ascension To A Top-Tier Right During Covid: New Report Unpacks The Supreme Court’S Recent Religious Liberty Cases, Law, Rights, And Religion Project

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

A new report released by The Law, Rights, and Religion Project (LRRP) at Columbia Law School — We The People (of Faith): The Supremacy of Religious Rights in the Shadow of a Pandemic — shows how the Supreme Court’s COVID-era opinions have created a hierarchy of constitutional rights, with religious rights at the top. This legal regime will have a resounding impact on U.S. law, affecting policymakers’ ability to protect public health, prevent discrimination, and secure labor rights long after the current COVID-19 crisis has abated.

In Fulton Decision, Scotus Solidifies Expansion Of Religious Exercise Rights, Law, Rights, And Religion Project

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

On June 17, 2021, the Supreme Court solidified a dramatic shift in its reading of the constitutional protections for religious liberty. The Court ruled that religious organizations that contract with local governments to provide foster care services should be exempted from compliance with city non-discrimination requirements if the city permits any discretionary exemptions from those laws.

May 2021 Era Update, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

The campaign to finalize the Equal Rights Amendment is being waged on several fronts. One in the courts, one in Congress. Last week, there were developments in two important lawsuits seeking to have the Equal Rights Amendment declared finalized and a valid part of the U.S. Constitution, thus securing explicit sex equality protections in the Constitution.

Ting Ting Cheng Appointed As Director Of Columbia Law School’S Era Project, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

New York, New York — Today, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) Project at Columbia Law School announced that Ting Ting Cheng has been appointed as the Project’s first Director. Ms. Cheng has wide-ranging experience as an advocate for gender justice and brings an ambitious strategic vision to the ERA Project’s work.