Mr. EDWARDS. It is our pleasure to welcome for the introduction of our next witness the distinguished Congressman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Walgren.

Mr. WALGREN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I appreciate the opportunity to join with you, although not a member of this committee. And I am afraid that I take the opportunity more perhaps on myself than out of any need, because I wanted to introduce to you and welcome to Washington a constituent of mine, Eleanor Smeal, who is the president of the National Organization for Women.

I feel like most Congressmen, sort of taking the opportunity people who need no introduction, but I wanted to give you thoughts in the introduction.

I first met Ms. Smeal when my wife and I were somewhat active in Pittsburgh politics. And she was then active on the local level of the National Organization for Women. And I think in a real sense, her rise to a position of national leadership is an example of the fact that in this society, the strength of character that is required for national leadership is found on all levels of our society, and that that strength of character is there in every individual, and that therefore, they have the real potential to realize the fullest of lives, on this Earth.

The second thought is: Her leadership in the National Organization for Women has been marked by a theme that is particularly true in the history of this country. That is, that the development of equality and the granting and realizing of equality for one group of individuals is absolutely essential to the fullness of life for all individuals. That applies to women, and the development and the granting of equal rights to women, being absolutely essential to the realization of the fullest of possible lives for the men in our society and for the children and others to come.

I really take a great deal of pleasure in welcoming you to Washington, Ellie, and taking my congressional courtesy extended to me to introduce you to the committee.

MS. SMEAL. Thank you very much.

Mr. EDWARDS. Thank you very much, Mr. Walgren.

We welcome you, and you may proceed with your testimony.

TESTIMONY OF ELEANOR SMEAL, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN, DR. MARJORIE BELL CHAMBERS, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN, AND MARIWYN HEATH, ERA COORDINATOR, BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN'S FEDERATION

Mr. EDWARDS. I believe that you will introduce your colleagues. MS. HEATH. Mariwyn Heath, ERA Coordinator for the Business and Professional Women's Federation.

Dr. CHAMBERS. Dr. Majorie Chambers, president, American Association of University Women.

MS. SMEAL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I am the president of the National Organization for Women.

On behalf of NOW, the largest feminist organization in the United States, with members and chapters throughout the Nation dedicated to achieving equality between women and men, I am testifying in support of House Joint Resolution 638, the proposal to extend the deadline for ratification of the equal rights amendment.

We are grateful for this opportunity to address the subcommittee on the ERA extension resolution. We believe that NOW, which has been a leader in the ERA ratification drive and a major supporter of the proposed extension, is in a unique position to testify on this matter, especially in light of our leadership in the movement to eliminate sex discrimination in all spheres of our society.

I would like, with the subcommittee's permission, to submit a legal memorandum for the record. We have been authorized to state it has been supported in its conclusions by seven esteemed constitutional authorities from universities throughout our country.

I would also like to submit into the record NOW's official testimony, and I would like to summarize it and to highlight it in brief comments. Mr. EDWARDS. Without objection, all documents will be made a part of the record.

[The documents follow:]

The National Organization for Women is pleased to present for introduction into the record of the proceedings a Memorandum of Law relative to the extension of the seven-year period for ratification of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment. The Memorandum was commissioned by NOW and prepared by the law firm of Lippman & Hart, Washington, D.C., with the assistance of Phineas Indritz, Esq., Washington, D.C. We are authorized to state that the following distinguished scholars of Constitutional law have studied the Memorandum and approve its conclusions:

EXTENSION OF THE SEVEN YEAR PERIOD FOR RATIFICATION

OF THE PROPOSED EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT

Introduction

The issues addressed in this memorandum are whether the Congress of the United States can extend the time period within which states may ratify the proposed Twenty-Seventh Amendment to the Constitution and, if so, in what manner such an extension can be achieved. It is our conclusion that Congress has absolute and unreviewable authority to extend the ratification period and that this can be achieved by means of à joint resolution approved by a simple majority of the members present and voting in each

House.

I.

Congress Has Absolute And Unreviewable Authority
To Prescribe Or Determine The Time Within Which
States May Effectively Ratify A Proposed
Constitutional Amendment

In 1972, the Congress of the United States, by a vote of 1/ 2/ 354 to 24 in the House of Representatives and 84 to 8 in the Senate determined the necessity of and submitted to the states for ratification a proposed Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The Joint Resolution which proposed the Amendment states as follows:

1/

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), that the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of

117.Cong. Rec. 35815, October 12, 1971.

2/ 118 Cong. Rec. 9598, March 22, 1972

3/

H. J. Res. 208 (92d Cong., 2d Sess., 1972); 86 Stat. 1531.

three-fourths of the several states within
seven years from the date of its submission
by the Congress:

Article

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

This amendment, hereinafter referred to as the "Equal Rights Amendment", would, when ratified, become the Twenty-Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Article V of the Constitution sets forth the means available for amendment of the United States Constitution. as follows:

It provides

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both
Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose
Amendments to this Constitution, or,
on the
Application of the Legislatures of two thirds
of the several states, shall call a Convention
for proposing Amendments, which, in either case,
shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as
Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the
Legislatures of three fourths of the several
States, or by Conventions of three fourths thereof,
as the ore or the other Mode of Ratification may
be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no
Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One
thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any
Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in
the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that
no state, without its Consent, shall be deprived
of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

Article V sets forth no specific time limit within which ratification by three-fourths of the several states must take place.

This