Loretta Lynch, former U.S. attorney general. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM

A number of Big Law firms are stepping into a lawsuit seeking to force the Trump administration to implement the Equal Rights Amendment, with teams of majority-female attorneys filing amicus briefs on behalf of groups and others largely in support of formally entrenching equal rights in the Constitution.

Democratic state attorneys general for Virginia, Illinois and Nevada sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia earlier this year to try and force the addition of the amendment, after Virginia legislators voted to become the 38th state to ratify it. The lawsuit argues a long-past congressional deadline to ratify the amendment is trumped by the lack of deadlines included in the U.S. Constitution, and five states rescinding their support also doesn't change the total number of state legislatures that at one point ratified the amendment.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled earlier this month to let the five states that rescinded their ratification—Alabama, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Tennessee— intervene in the case to argue against the lawsuit. The states are represented by their respective attorneys general and boutique firm Consovoy McCarthy, which has also represented President Donald Trump in court.

The Democratic lawsuit targets David Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, who has the authority to formally publish the amendment in the Constitution. A recent opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel argues the timeline for adopting this iteration of the ERA has run out, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg earlier this year said she believes the process should start over.

Here's a snapshot of amicus briefs filed in the case this week, and the Big Law women behind them.

>> Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison: Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and ex-Mueller prosecutor Jeannie Rhee are part of the Paul Weiss team behind an amicus brief on behalf of nearly 100 businesses and corporations in support of the ERA. Firm partners Liza Velazquez and Andrew Gordon are joined by firm associates Tamar Holoshitz and Benjamin Bergmann on the brief, and former firm partner Maria Vullo of Vullo Advisory Services and Rebecca LeGrand of LeGrand Law also signed.

What the brief says: "Proudly joining the overwhelming majority of Americans that support the ERA, amici recognize that eliminating systemic barriers that impede women's economic and social advancement will result in a more just, vibrant, and productive America. Ratification of the ERA sends a powerful message about the nation's commitment to sex equality—a message amici believe would be transformational for the American economy. Amici strongly urge this Court to order the Archivist to perform his statutory duty to publish and certify the ERA as the Twenty-Eighth Amendment."

>> Hogan Lovells: Firm partner Jessica Ellsworth, senior associate Kaitlyn Golden and associate Erin Chapman filed an amicus brief on behalf of constitutional law scholars who don't support any party in the lawsuit, but argue the fight invokes the political question doctrine and therefore should be resolved in Congress and not a federal court. The firm was filed for Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, Harvard Law professor Noah Feldman, Reva Siegel of Yale Law and Julie C. Suk with the City University of New York. 

What the brief says: "The separation of powers requires this court to refrain from adjudicating the ERA's validity in this litigation. Addressing the ratification issue on its merits would prematurely entangle the court in deciding abstract issues not necessary to resolve a concrete controversy. Congress—the democratically elected, federal-lawmaking branch of government—is best placed to resolve disagreements between states about the validity of a federal constitutional amendment."

>> Covington & Burling: Former DOJ official and firm partner Beth Brinkmann, alongside associates Lauren Moxley and Megan Keenan, joined with human rights attorney Kate Kelly to file an amicus brief for the organization Generation Ratify and other pro-gender equality youth groups in support of the ERA.

What the brief says: "In supporting the plaintiff states' effort to resolve the century-long movement to guarantee gender equality in the Constitution, we urge the court to not view the Equal Rights Amendment as only our grandmother's fight. Rather, we urge the court also to recognize its importance to young and diverse advocates of this generation that the Amendment be added to the Constitution. Young advocates have led the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment since its inception. Supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment recognize the expressive function it serves and the important message it will send to young people: that gender equality is among our nation's highest values. The Equal Rights Amendment also will serve as a vehicle for substantive judicial protection of gender equality under the law, including in education and economic life, as well as a basis for legislative actions to enforce those protections. Both as an expression of our country's values and as a means for change, the Amendment has the potential to further young Americans' interests in a broader guarantee of gender equality in all aspects of American life."

>> Davis Polk & Wardwell: Davis Polk counsel Stefani Johnson Myrick teamed up with fellow counsel Margarita Clarens, partner Amelia Starr, associates Alexa Lutchen and Amanda Rae Schwarzenbart as well as law clerk Ben Jernigan for a brief on behalf of several international equal rights groups, led by Equality Now. Equality Now attorneys Antonia Kirkland and Divya Srinivasan are also named on the brief.

What the brief says: "Like women and girls around the world, female citizens of the plaintiff states, and of the United States more broadly, suffer concrete injury from ongoing discrimination, lack of political and economic representation and inadequate protection from gender-based violence. Moreover, the failure of the United States to provide constitutional protection for equality on the basis of sex undermines any efforts by individual states, including plaintiff states, to address this systemic issue. Indeed, the international experience demonstrates that a patchwork of local efforts cannot remedy these harms—only constitutional action on a nationwide basis can ensure the universal right to equality for all women and girls."

>> Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz: Associate Elizabeth Cappiello joined other associates Jade Sipes, Sharonda Childs Fancher, Madeline Hughes, Xeris Gregory and attorney Jessica Spade to file an amicus brief on behalf of the United States Conference of Mayors and other pro-ERA groups. Southern Legal Counsel executive director Jodi Siegel and staff attorney Chelsea Dunn filled out the entirely female legal team for the brief.

What the brief says: "Adding the duly ratified ERA to the Constitution will guarantee the rights held by all citizens, men and women alike, by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex. This brief presents three arguments to provide context for the importance of a valid ERA. One, the United States will join the vast majority of nations that already include such protections in their constitutions. Two, governmental actions that treat men and women differently will be presumptively unconstitutional unless the government can show the law or policy is necessary to achieve a compelling interest. And three, the ERA will ensure that rights on the basis of sex will be stronger, consistently applied, and permanently held."

>> Boies Schiller Flexner: Firm partners Joshua Riley and Stuart Singer, alongside counsel Jon Mills and associates Vanessa Tussey and Ana Carolina Varela, filed the brief on behalf of groups that advocated for ERA ratification in the states behind the lawsuit. D. Patricia Wallace of the Wallace Law Firm is also on the brief.

What the brief says: "Not only the states but also their residents have an interest in securing observance of Article V of the Constitution. Amici's work in achieving their states' ratification of the Twenty-Eighth Amendment perfectly illustrates this point. Amici invested considerable time, energy, professional skills, or funds in the campaigns to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The archivist, by refusing to publish the Twenty-Eighth Amendment, has single-handedly destroyed the value of amici's labor and the campaign work of other residents of plaintiff states. Prospectively, the archivist's failure to perform his statutorily mandated ministerial duty effectively destroys the voice of citizens in the democratic process. If he is allowed to pick and choose which amendments to publish, as he has done with the Twenty-Eighth Amendment, he eliminates the decision-making authority Article V assigns to the state legislatures and, consequently, renders nugatory the voices of the people who elect legislators."

>> New York Attorney General Letitia James: James' office led an amicus brief filed on behalf of New York and 17 other states, as well as the Democratic governor of Kansas and mayor of D.C., in support of the publication of the ERA.

What the brief says: "By refusing to perform his ministerial duty to certify the ERA as a valid amendment, the archivist undermines the states' role in the constitutional amendment process. Amici states have a strong interest in vindicating that role and maintaining the effectiveness of their ratifications. Indeed, that strong interest, combined with the fact that plaintiffs cast the last three votes needed to ratify the ERA, is precisely what gives plaintiffs standing here."

>> Winston & Strawn: Chicago managing partner Linda Coberly, chair of the ERA Coalition's Legal Task Force, teamed up with partner Christopher Man and associates Linda Greene, Courtney Block and Johanna Rae Hudgens for a brief on behalf of more than 50 groups supporting the ERA. Those groups include the ERA Coalition, the League of Women Voters of the United States and the National Organization for Women.

What the brief says: "The ERA remains as critical today as it was in 1923—when it was first introduced—and in 1972, when a bipartisan supermajority in Congress passed it and sent it to the States. And in the years since then, the already powerful public consensus in favor of the ERA has only continued to grow. The slow progress of the fight for equality demonstrates that civil rights movements do not happen in a moment in time; they span generations. The fundamental nature of constitutional equality makes it all the more important to respect the plain language of Article V, which sets out a process for amending our Constitution that imposes no time limits."

Read more:

RBG's Remarks on Equal Rights Amendment Are Used Against Advocates in Court

Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch Joins Paul Weiss

Jeannie Rhee, Mueller Prosecutor and Ex-Wilmer Partner, Joins Paul Weiss

Covington's Beth Brinkmann on Returning to Argue at SCOTUS