McClellan Celebrates Biden’s Declaration: The ERA is the Law of the Land

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (VA-04) issued the following statement after President Joe Biden declared the Equal Rights Amendment the law of the land as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution after Virginia became the 38th state to ratify: 

“This announcement marks a historic turning point in the century-long fight for gender equality. In 2020, I introduced and passed legislation with Senator Mamie Locke and then-Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy to make Virginia the 38th and final state necessary to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. It was poetic justice for the Commonwealth of Virginia – the birthplace of American democracy and the former capital of the Confederacy – to fulfill the constitutional requirement to make the Equal Rights Amendment law. Despite those strides, we have had to continue working to ensure its publication in the U.S. Constitution. 

“The U.S. Constitution was developed for “We the People, in Order to form a more perfect Union” and promised to create a government by, of and for the people. But it did not include everyone. For more than 100 years, we have fought to pass the Equal Rights Amendment and bring our nation closer to the promise of equality for every American, regardless of sex. It was a fight propelled by abolitionists, the Civil Rights Movement, the Suffrage Movement, and the Women’s Rights Movement, which included women of color from the very beginning, even when we were the last to benefit from that work. I’m proud to have done my part at the state level and built on that progress in Congress as a Vice Chair of the Congressional ERA Caucus. 

“President Biden’s declaration capstones his lifelong commitment to gender equality and the rights of every American. Today, the President acknowledges the ERA as the law of the land. With this declaration, President Biden cements his legacy as a champion for women’s rights and sends a clear, unequivocal message that no one should face discrimination on the basis of sex. 

“Today, our nation takes a historic step to ensure our daughters and granddaughters will have more rights than their mothers and grandmothers did. However, it cannot be the last. Congress took nearly 100 years after ratification of the 14th Amendment to pass legislation enforcing its ban on racial discrimination. I look forward to publication of the ERA as the 28th Amendment and working to enforce its mandate as soon as possible.”

McClellan has been a tireless advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment since her public service began in 2006 in the Virginia House of Delegates. In 2020, then-State Senator McClellan introduced and led passage of SJ 1 to ratify and affirm the ERA in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In Congress, McClellan serves as a Vice Chair of the Congressional ERA Caucus. In December 2024, McClellan joined her Congressional ERA Caucus colleagues in urging President Biden to publish the ERA.