Yesterday (October 28th), Christopher Schroeder was confirmed by the Senate to serve as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) by a vote of 56-41. Previously, he served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy under the Obama Administration. Under the Trump Administration, the head of the OLC had sent a memo to the National Archivist telling him not to certify and publish the ERA as the 28th amendment using a controversial legal opinion.
Federal law directs the National Archivists of the U.S. to certify and publish amendments that have met the requirements laid out in Article V of the Constitution in what is a purely administrative duty normally done automatically. The ERA has met all requirements within Article V of the Constitution and thus the National Archivist should have automatically certified and published the amendment when Virginia, the 38th state, ratified the ERA.
In Response to Schroeder’s confirmation, the ERA Coalition immediately released a joint letter to the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, urging the immediate removal of the Trump Administration memo sent by the previous head of the OLC. The letter was co-signed by 77 state and national organizations and their leaders, including the Feminist Majority, in support of this call to action. Click here to view the letter sent out by the ERA Coalition: https://www.eracoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ERA-Coalition-Letter-to-AG-Garland.pdf
