of hostages in lebanon with proceeds going to contra rebels in nicaragua. watch congress investigates saturdays at 7 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> see spanish unfiltered view of government. we're funded by the television companies and more including comcast. >> are you thinking this just as a community center? is when more than it. >> comcast is party with 1000 community centers to create lift zones of students can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. >> comcast supports c-span is a public service along with these other television providers giving you a frequency to democracy. >> up next senator ben cardin, kirsten gillibrand and jennifer mcclellan discussed the equal rights amendment at infant f a georgetown university law school. they advocate for the amendment

to be a permanent fixture in the constitution and discuss its importance. this is about 40 minutes. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] hello, everyone. this is washington in action. as you y know we have several people who are speaking but the first is definitely an important advocate for the 28th amendment. not the era, the 28th amendment. and it's particularly a pleasure

because i found out that someone i thought legislative procedure to is now the chief counsel for senator cardin. when i was visiting at university of maryland. i want to introduce to you and extraordinary advocate for the 28th amendment and equal rights, and extraordinary leader in the fight for human rights around the globe, and a great center for the great state of maryland, ben cardin. [applause] >> professor nourse, don't leave us. are you? i want to thank you. i want to thank you. you did a great job on bill van horn. he's a really good chief counsel.hi so thank you for imparting into him what is necessary, and we have a lot of procedural problems in the united states senate. i don't know if you've noticedeo that are not but we thank you very much.

alan rogers of my staff is also here. the staff do incredible work for us. i just always wanted knowledge did. thank you for being here. thank you for what you do. i want to thank the sponsors and what you think you're putting this on. i know my colleagues on the house of representatives will be a little later on. they have some voting that they're doing at this particular moment. it is a a challenge because oe leadership in the house of representatives, for them to get anything done. so hopefully they'll be able to move some legislation. i just believe want to start by saying 100 years is too long to wait on thisn thing. we have got to get the acknowledgment of the amendment as being part of the constitution. i mean, that's the bottom line. i strong support the efforts that senator gillibrand and others are doing in regards to era now, acknowledges that my

legislature, the maryland legislature has passed a resolution to acknowledge thehe equal rights in them as part of our constitution. we need states to act that we need the white house to be a little more friendly towards -- there is nothing in the constitution of the united states, article v, the talks about a time limit. there is no time limit on equality. as we know, the amendment before the equal rights amendment was ratified was the one to do with congressional pay, and that took about 200 and some years for that to become ratified. so the is no time limit on the constitutional process. the 38 states ratified in 2000 with virginia. that is what is required in the constitution, so that era should be acknowledged as part of the constitution of the united states.ng and we're going to continue to

work for that. in the meantime with other strategies that we are working with. the american people are on ourur side, you know that. every poll shows that the overwhelming majority of americans believe it's part of the constitution of the united statesth and supported as being part of the constitution of the united states. so we have the american people on our side. it's urgent that we get this done. it's been over 100 years we have been, not me personally, but we've been fighting to get this as part of the constitution with the ratification of the women's right to vote 104 years ago. we've been working on this issue ever since, and we got to complete the job but it's urgent today. why is it urgent today? because we have runaway courts. we have runaway courts that are coming up with absurd interpretations of our constitution. we need a stricter

interpretation as it relates to the rights, equal rights, amendment. and that's what it will give us. yes, the dobbs decision puts a big spotlight on this, but we're seeing other decisions that are eroding the rights. i never thought i would see this, you know, the dobbs decision erased rights that were embedded for 48 years, giving women the right to control their own destiny. their own health care decisions. but we have equal concern about what these rights will be for pregnant women, what the rights are going to be for violence against women, what the right circle to be in regards to workplace and workplace safety issues. the list goes on and on and on that we need to have the protection of the strict interpretations as is provided by the equal rights amendment being part of her constitution. so we really need to have that extra protection in the

constitution. so where are we? the legislation i introduced over a decade ago to remove a time limit, which has been done in the past, this is not something that hasn't been donee before. congress put a time limit on it. there's no requirement for time limit. there's a certain argument that we feel very passionately about, that that does not deny the ratification even at thatt time when it still remains in law. but we want to take that time limit out a flaw, to make it as clear as possible to move this issue alone. we have seen that legislation passed the house of representatives in previous congresses. we want to get it passed again in the house of representatives, and there's a discharge petition in order to make that a a rea. in the u united states senate we have 53 cosponsors of the legislation. last time i checked, a majority of the senate is 51, so we had

the majority of the senate, we have every single democrat, every single independent. we have senator murkowski and senator collins, bipartisan so we have that support. we want to get the past i want to thank senator durbin. senator durbin held the first hearing on the equal rights amendment last year and gave us the opportunity to establish the record, the clear record about why the bill, resolution that i've introduced, should be gastric we then had a vote, thank you, senator schumer for scheduling a vote on the floor of the united states senate. the majority of the senators voted in favor of moving forward to passing legislation. senator schumer took steps so we can reconsider that att any tim, so we can reconsider that. we can have more votes this year on this issue. but because of the arcane use of the filibuster in the senate,

and another are solving areas that youou might think it's important to slow down legislation.r i do. but for 100 years this has gone long.oo there's fundamental legislation that the senate will should allow us to vote on, and that's been denied in regards to the legislation to clarify the enactment of the equal rights amendment. so we think that is an exception that should be made, an exception and we should really get a pass in the city. we have tot get a pass in the house and the senate and signed by the president. so we determined to continue this effort. we want to get it done this year, we know we need help. that's why i was so pleased that this forum is taking place and i want you to know we are open. we are part of this team. you have incredible leaders on the erao that are in this room who have been working on this issue. we applaud their efforts. they are keeping public

attention onme this. that's important. let me tell you how democracies work. they work on election day. today you elect to office. this needs to be resolved, i hope before election day, but if it's not that we should make sure that thisom becomes an isse in the voters, that voters understand who's on their site and who's not on their side, and that this becomes an important issue to make sure that we have the right mind come up the next year wedo don't get it done this you to make sure we have this acknowledge as part of the constitution of the united states. thank you all. understand that some friend the question. always like friendly questions. >> thank you. i had the privilege of. moderating the q&a so everyone to up your questions for senator cardin. i'll start things off. my name is ting ting cheng, i'm director the equal rights e amendment project at columbia law school, thank you for being

here. thank you. [applause] so as you see we are joined by incredible advocates, youth leaders, elected officials, scholars, people in the private sector, essentially representing everybody in society. what is your advice for people as as a group of very different people with different viewpoints momentum up? >> thank you. that's a very important question and that's why we had the era coalition and leadership. we try to focus our strategies together. we have at this stage several strategies that we are using, to get the legal acknowledgment that the era is part of the constitution here that's being waged on two fronts. one to get a friendlier reaction from thed administration on legl interpretations. and, secondly, to to bring this

issue up in a judicial way where we think we could be successful in getting it acknowledged. so that strategy one, at we want, we want us to be all focus on the strategies. strategy two is to to get the legislation,n, the resolution tt i sponsored along with two of my colleagues, enacted into law. that would remove any doubt about the time limit that congress place on the enacting legislation that allowed the states to vote on the ratification of the equal rights amendment. so that is our second avenue of efforts. in regards to the first, we do that legislation in that would acknowledge that the era is part of the constitution, that we should be supporteded as well. so put attention on that. and then lastly, it's the rules of how we operate in the house and senate to put a focus on the

fact that both bodies should be voting by majority vote on the equal rights amendment. if we do that we think we can win the equal rights amendment on thehe floor of the house and the floor of the city. so it's of those strategies we are trying to get anyone to be focused on. to get things done in this congress. and then, lastly, let me point out the need for education. education on two fronts. one, i'm happy everybody thinks the era's part of the constitution but we need the public to understand the week need to still take steps to make sure it is acknowledged as part of the constitution and becomes part of our constitution. so there's an educational process here. why is that important? as we want to make sure that we have our constituencies asking the right questions of our candidates so they will vote the right way so we can complete the job on the equal rights amendment. and then, secondly, the

importance of the ratification of the equal rights amendment. because many americans say, you know, it's 2024. do we really need an equal rights amendment and the constitution? the answer is clearly yes. and we need to educate the public as to what's happening in our courts and the needs of the different scrutinies that are available if the equal rights amendment becomes part of our constitution. >> my name is katie and i led the advocacy group, the coalition of africa's n virginia for the virginia ratification. >> congratulations. [applause] >> well done. >> thank you. many of uss would love to see this important human rights conversation held in the larger context of our international standing and if eligible international treaties by not publishing are 28th amendment. in your final months as standard and is a chip of the senate

committee on foreign affairs will you schedule a hearing about the era? >> that's an interesting point. i -- i served as the signature of the helsinki commission, which is an international group for europe and central asia and north america. we have used that former to point out that the united states -- forum -- violating international standards by denying the citizens of the district of columbia full voting protections and representation in the united states congress and senate. i've actually sponsored resolutions and those resolutions have passed the united states out of step with the international community. i wanted to go over this with the era coalition as to where we think the focus needs to be in regards to the united states senate before use any of our

senate mechanisms to put a spotlight on one strategy versus another. r i also recognize this is a little sensitive because it's democrat on democrat when we talk about what the white house is doing. this is an election year, in case you haven't noticed. it's the strategy decision that i want to make along with the coalition. >> my name is claudia. i am thehe deputy executive director of the young feminist party which is a 14,000 strong youth led movement to finalize the equal rights amendment. i'm also a proud marylanders underwent a safe young marylanders are so proud of you and your astounding leadership in the senate, just pioneering the era. >> i'm glad i i recognized yor a question. [laughing] >> i wanted to ask, so given

your experience and expertise in the senate, what is your outlook regarding whether or not the era would be passed in the senate, given the fact that the era is not regular legislation, it's legislation relating to article v matters, and should be subject to the senate filibuster? >> it's an excellent, excellent question. we have not been ablest -- we nd 50 senators, we don't need 51. we need 50 senators that are willing to allow senator schumer to make that interpretation and will support that interpretation. as of last count we had a maximum, it wasn't 100% sure we sure we had that number, but a maximum of 499. we did not have 50. and i set a maximum. i'm going to tell you, i don't think we have 49. i think we -- if we get it to a

vote we can lobby at a think we can get it up, it's right now probably the mid-40s when we are on that type of an interpretation of our rules. so that's the pragmatic challenges we have. we need to be able to support senator schumer actions on that. senator schumer is prepared to move forward if he can get the 50 votes and, of course, the vice president would be the 51st vote. whenever kamala harris votes and united states since we always win so we always -- always like having her there. it's the strategy that it don't think we should give up on. i think we should work to try to see if we can reach the finish line. in congress as you get closer and closer to the end of a session of congress, when certain, several centers will not be returned to the second be helpful if we could get this done this year. >> thank you.

>> good afternoon, senator. my name is jake. i'm a student here at georgetown. georgetown. i had a quickg question looking forward. what are some perspective pieces of legislation that are not feasible under the current constitutional framework that maybe would be possible after the 28th amendment it wisely recognize -- widely recognized. >> was it a good question. i think it's more to protect that it is affirmative passing. that's an excellent question. i have to give a little more thought. we are right now struggling in regards to some court interpretations that are affecting affirmativeve action, affecting the use of demographic data, et cetera. that is really causing tremendous challenge in dealing withth underrepresented communities, underserved communities. so i would have to give that some thought as to whether we want to adopt any additional affirmative protections in

regards to the equal rights amendment. myss guess is that there would e an evaluation made and there would probably be an effort for legislation because we can go further than we've gone in the past. it's not a protected class under the constitution so, therefore, we do notam have the same rights that we have on race. so it is an issue that i think we would have to evaluate. but it's a good question. >> so i think we're nearly a time and a c guess i'll close by asking you what your plans are for post-senate? and what are your plans to advocate for the era or gender justice as a civilian? >> you know, okay, thank you for that. i can assure you that as i tell people who think that i might be retiring, i'm not retiring. i'm just not running for reelection. i have been extremely fortunate. i've had a chance to serve in

the maryland general assembly and speak of the maryland house. i served in the house of representatives and out and the united states senate. it's been an incredible journey and i think the people of maryland for allowing me to do this. it started as a law student. i don't necessarily recommend that to n the law students who e here, but it did, well, of course colombia is in the city so you are close to, well, you're far away from albany so that would be a heavy commute. but but i was a little lost in he ran for the maryland legislature, was elected and served during my third year in law school. it spent a long run and i really appreciate the support i've received for the people of maryland. so i do in ten to stay active. i will follow the priorities that i have. what if this is a equal rights amendment sawnt i intend to be actively engaged to see completed. i hope it is completed during my term as a center, but if it is not i will continue to work in that effort.

i'm going to work on the environment, work on human rights issues, i'm going to work on those issues that i think are ones that i can give some value to the policy development of our nation. i have been heavily engaged in human rights issues and heavily engaged in the environment. i love baltimore. i will try to do things to help my beloved city. thank you all very much. [applause] >> everyone enjoy your lunches. we are awaiting the arrival of cori bush and ayanna pressley very soon. >> and a police in the we have some video remarks from senator gillibrand who has also been invested in the era effort and a ginger chapman, particularly involving women in the military,

gender violence. so we're going to play that video now, i hope. >> hello. i'm store kirsten gillibrand and him honor to join all for the equal rights amendment covers the georgian bar. scourge of the best and brightest legal scholars and advocates pushing to engage and make thehe era our 20th the member i'm proud n to be the stampede of the era knaus resolution which it deems the era the 28th amendment our constitution and direct the archivist of the united states to certify and publish the era. it is well past time and women have waited far too long for our constitution to reflect the will of the american people. the era should always be the law of the land. it was passed by a two-thirds majority of congress and ratified by three-fourths of the states. it is satisfied all the requirements under article v to

become a part of our constitution. and yet it's the only constitutional amendment that is ever met these strict requirements to be discriminate against an blocked from being certified and published. donald trump's administration intentionally inserted itself intohi this process to deny equality to millions of americans based on a flawed and inconsistent legal theory that equates to political conjecture. the memo drafted by trump's office of legal counsel relies primarily on a 1921 supreme court case that was actually made mood by the enactment of the 27th amendment. it said all constitutional amendments have to be done in a timely, reasonable amount of time. by the 27th7t amendment took 203 years to be ratified and certified after it was initially proposed.

article v is clear about the appropriate separation of powers. congress proposes amendments. states ratified him. we cannot allow a trial arrow legal memo to dictate that women are second-class citizens under the law. i want to be clear on what's at risk. without roe and without a federal guarantee of sexy cultic and state legislatures and courts have the final say on whether women and girls have a right to privacy, bodily autonomy for me to a medical decision.di fundamental right to not be determined should not be deterred by zip code. we have seen a successful equal rights amendment can be a a ft against attacks on women's reproductive health. just this yearr state level era in pennsylvania andnd nevada provided a constitutional basis to challenge state abortion restrictions in medicaid coverage. imagine whatt a federal equal rights amendment could secure for all americans. i am proud to work with you on

this incredible and herculean effort. i know that we are closer now than ever to seeing a federal equal rights amendment become the law of the land, and i will continue to push forward through any legal or legislative avenues to get this done. women have waited long enough. we need to have the era certified and published into our constitution. thank you all for being part of this historic fight for equality. >> i thank you very much. for the purposes of our video,

record dasher were going to a video, representative mcclellan very moving remarks for the z who were not here at the beginning of the event. my home own home state of virginia as the first issues of the first black woman has ever been elected to the commonwealth of virginia in the house of representatives.we >> greetings everyone. i am congresswoman jennifer mcclellan and i have the privilege of representing virginia's fourth congressional district in the united states house of representatives. i am the first black woman elected to congress in the commonwealth of virginia. i am the daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter of educators, domestic workers, committee leaders and civil rights activists who struggled for equality in the jim crow south. my great-grandfather was born

shortly after the civil war on a plantation where his parents had been enslaved. shortly after reconstruction he had to pass a literacy test and find three white men to vouch for him just be able to register to vote. but my great-grandmother couldn't vote. my grandfather and father had to pay poll taxes to cast their ballots. my mother comes from generations of domestic workers who are often overlooked and underpaid despite a vital role they played in our society. and while my father voted at the age of 22, my mother couldn't vote until well into her 30s after the passage of the voting rights act of 1965. my family faced tremendous obstacles to exercise their fundamental right to vote. yet they neverer wavered in ther commitment to our political process or their desire to great a better future for the next generation. ..

the civil rights movement, suffrage movement and women's rights movement. including women of color even in the last benefit.

to continue i was part of this generation lawmakers who came together in the 38th and final equalize amendment. rights amendment. it was poetic justice that our commonwealth, the birth place of american democracy and birth place of american slavery was the state to bring the e.r.a. across the finish line. it was a feat that the first woman to arrive in jamestown 400 years earlier could never imagine. in 1619 the men of jamestown realized they needed women to

make virginia a permanent settlement. so they actively recruited women to, quote, make wives of their inhabitants and in 1620, the first 90 women arrived on the shores of virginia and their rights were surrendered to their husbands. they could not vote. they could not own property. black women were considered property and had even fewer rights. 156 years later thomas jefferson wrote in the declaration of independence that all men were created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. thomas jefferson most certainly did not include me in that declaration. 72 years later, elizabeth cady stanton wrote women -- in the declaration of sentiment she wrote all men and women were created equal.

in 1787 the constitution created a government by, of, and for we the people but we did not include everybody. it took 81 years to begin ex-tanding that promise beyond white men. in 1868, the 14th amendment promised equal protections under the law but women still did not experience that reality. in fact, the 14th amendment added the first mention of gender into the constitution. declaring all male citizens over 21 should be able to vote. it took another 52 greers the 19th amendment to grant women that right. and three years later, the equal rights amendment was introduced. and we are still fighting to publish it in the constitution. the states have done their part. and i was proud of my role in that fight. now in congress, i am still fighting to enshrine gender equality under the law into the constitution. as vice chair of the first ever congressional e.r.a. caucus, as

the first black woman to represent virginia in congress, and as a mother to two young children i will continue fighting to do my partner next generation -- so the next generation is not left fighting the same battle our mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers fought. as we witness widespread, systematic attacks reproductive freedom, access to the ballot box and other perm freedom it is imperative we take immediate action to make gender equality the law of the land. this congress i signed a discharge petition to demand an immediate vote on e.r.a. caucus co-chair ayana pressley's resolution to remove the arbitrary ratification deadline for the e.r.a. and enshrine it into law. i will continue my efforts until the e.r.a. is published as the 28th amendment in the united states constitution. because we owe it to our daughters and our granddaughters as well as our mothers, our

grandmothers and great grandmothers. i thank columbia law school and georgetown university law center for your work on the equal rights amendment project and for creating space for today's discussion. today -- together we will continue doing our part in the march for gender equality under the law. >> thanks so much. that was an amazing journey to her place in the house of representatives. now we are waiting for representatives pressley and bush who are the co-chairs of the one of the largest caucuses in the congress. and they have had votes. but to all my students who are

here in my legislation class where i teach about congress you should have noted two things. one, senator cardin's yen counsel, chief counsel is one of my former students. one. two. that this matters to how the world works. so congress, what you've heard so far, is that congress has other roles to play than you thought. under article 5, it does have the role to propose and ultimately in our view decide about these procedural questions involving ratification. that's very, very important. you know, the founders put the congress in article 1 for a reason. they knew that their old systems in the states had not worked particularly well. so they changed some of their -- the constitutional articles of the state constitutions that they had come from the colony. so they added something called

the president in article 2. and courts only come in article 3. they did ask why congress put them in the basement of the capitol for a very, very long time. indeed, when they built the marble palace, the supreme court of the united states, several people did not want to even have their offices in there because they thought it was much too posh during the middle of the depression. so i think at law school we teach you courts, courts, courts, courts, courts. but the reason that the dean was here, particularly at our law school, is we teach you that the constitution is also about you. about elections. about the congress. about the presidency. because we can get rid of courts. there are other nations that don't have a court like ours. they still have a democracy. and that's worth fighting for. so thanks for that. we will get back here when we have representatives pressley

and bush. as they're on their way. thanks for your patience. [applause]n university discussion is about 40 minutes. >> we've had a phone morning talking about the impediments to everyone recognizing era as a 28 amendment. in some respects, in