FSFP Legal Counsel Courtney Hostetler recently appeared on The Damage Report to discuss the Equal Rights Amendment, the Constitutional amendment banning sex and gender discrimination. During the discussion with host John Iadarola, Hostetler discussed the Trump-era Department of Justice (DOJ) opinion that has, to date, blocked the publishing of the Amendment as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“Our opinion is that the DOJ really shouldn’t have entered that conversation at all. But the other major problem of course, is that the opinion that the Department of Justice came out with was just wrong…,” said Hostetler.

Free Speech For People, Generation Ratify and a coalition of organizations recently issued a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, urging him to instruct the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) to rescind its January 6, 2020 advisory opinion regarding the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The coalition letter states that rescinding the OLC opinion would allow the Archivist of the United States to publish and certify the ERA.

“Once it’s rescinded, it clears a path for the National Archivist to acknowledge that the steps laid out for the ratification of an amendment have now been met: Congress, states, — it should be certified — and we don’t think this opinion should stand in the way anymore,” said Hostetler.

Watch both segments of the discussion here and here.