; Whereas, in the same unanimous ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit noted that the Supreme Court has affirmed the authority of Congress to set a binding ratification deadline, and the court of appeals refused to order the Archivist to certify the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the Constitution and dismissed the lawsuit brought by Illinois and Nevada; Whereas Representative Martha Griffiths, the sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment Resolution, said in 1971, speaking of the deadline for the Equal Rights Amendment, I think it is perfectly proper to have the 7-year statute so that it should not be hanging over our heads forever. ; Whereas, under article V of the Constitution, a proposed amendment does not become part of the Constitution unless it is either ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof with one or the other mode of ratification being dictated by Congress in the proposing clause of a resolution; Whereas only 35 States ratified the Equal Rights Amendment before its 7-year deadline, resulting in fewer than the 38 State ratifications necessary for adoption under article V of the Constitution; Whereas, before the original deadline for the Equal Rights Amendment expired, 4 of the 35 States that voted to ratify voted to rescind their ratifications; Whereas Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020 observed, when explaining why she thought the Equal Rights Amendment needed to start over, If you count a latecomer on the plus side, how can you disregard States that said we’ve changed our minds?