Virginia ratifies the Equal Rights Amendment

Virginia officially became the critical 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment on Monday, clearing the way for likely court fights over whether the measure can be added to the U.S. Constitution. State lawmakers made history earlier this month when each chamber of the General Assembly separately approved ratification resolutions.

On Monday, the House and Senate took the final procedural step of signing off on each other's measures. Virginia's ratification opens a new chapter in the nearly century-long push to get the amendment added to the Constitution.

Constitutional amendments must be ratified by three-quarters of the states, or 38. But the ERA's future is uncertain, in part because of a 1982 deadline for ratification that Congress passed decades ago.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Justice Department issued a legal memo concluding that because the deadline has expired, it is too late for states to ratify the ERA.