South Dakota and two other states file lawsuit seeking to block ERA ratification

Three states have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the addition of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Alabama, Louisiana and South Dakota are suing in response to a renewed push to get the required 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The ERA would ban discrimination on the basis of sex.

The lawsuit notes that Congress set a 1982 deadline to get the required 38 states to agree. It seeks to prevent David Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, from accepting a new ratification from a state.