M-Peach-Mint

After the 2016 election, Anne knitted herself a pink “pussy” hat that she wore in protest. That was then, this is now, nevertheless she persisted. Her pointy needle activism remains unrestrained. Cue her latest creation, an M-Peach-Mint cap. I mailed it off to Carl, who Anne credits the idea. I asked and she has enough yarn for another. Plus her favorite yarn store, Knitorius, is going out of business and she feels compeled to shop there at least one more time. Anyone want to help her out here? There is no guarantee that any such hat would be finished before the trial is over, but it should be done well before the 2020 election.

This week, the Virginia legislature ratified the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Making it the 38th state to have done so. Normally, this is enough states to add an amendment to the US Constitution, but the ERA’s has a long and checkered history. Passed by Congress in 1972, it was given a ten-year window to reach ratification, which it did not make. Its critics declared it dead then, but its proponents did not give up. By this self imposed deadline only 35 states had ratified it. Subsequently, five states rescinded their ratification, but three new states eventually ratified it. So, a total of 38 states have ratified it.

The US Constitution is one of the oldest and shortest constitutions. It does not speak to the idea of a state rescinding its ratification, which could make such an act unconstitutional. The only time an admendment was ever reversed, as with prohibition, it took another admendment to do so. Similarly, the statue limiting the ERA’s period of ratification was enabling legislation that was not part of the amendment and is an idea that also has no support in the Constitution. Now that the ERA is purportedly ratified, any legislation limiting it could also be seen as unconstitutional. Hey, I’m no legal scholar, but on this blog, I like to play one.