Biden says Equal Rights Amendment has passed, but won't take the next step

Having been ratified by the requisite 38 states as of 2020, the Equal Rights Amendment meets all constitutional requirements to become the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. After years of delay, President Joe Biden finally acknowledged this fact Friday, but he didn't direct the U.S. archivist to publish the amendment.

The Biden administration had previously claimed that Congress must authorize publication, citing a long-expired time limit to the ERA when it went to the states for ratification in 1972. However, the Constitution makes no mention of such time limits, nor does it give Congress the authority to limit the states' ability to ratify an amendment once proposed.

Consider the case of the 27th Amendment, which prohibits immediate congressional pay raises. It was ratified in 1992, more than two centuries after being sent to the states. Once the ratification requirements for a proposed amendment are met, the president publishes it. There are no additional steps.

The reason for reticence among Democratic leaders appears to have been fear that publishing the ERA would trigger a legal challenge that would fall to the conservative-dominated Supreme Court to resolve. While there is some validity to this concern, waiting and hoping for the Supreme Court’s makeup to tilt back in a more centrist or liberal direction was not a strategy and may yet result in many years of potentially tragic delay.

Democrats have good reason to welcome a test in the Supreme Court. If the court upholds the ERA, they gain a powerful tool to strengthen women’s rights, as well as a firm constitutional basis for protections against gender discrimination and perhaps even reproductive rights.

Striking down the ERA, meanwhile, would require the conservative justices to reject unambiguously the strict constructionism and originalism to which they claim to adhere. It would be stark proof that the Supreme Court has become nothing more than a conservative policy-making tool as many critics have alleged. If nothing else, it would undoubtedly ignite more widespread demand for judicial reforms to restore balance and integrity to the courts, such as court expansion or imposing term limits.

Biden has talked often about protecting democracy and advancing equality. He should have fully supported the ERA. History is watching.

John C. Engle, Logan Square

Burge, Watts and Guevara will stain CPD forever

A recent Sun-Times news article stated "Jon Burge, Ronald Watts and Reynaldo Guevara — former police officials implicated in scores of wrongful conviction cases — continue to haunt Chicago taxpayers." That’s a shockingly bland way to describe these corrupt, cruel, criminalistic cops.

These brutes masqueraded as officers and heaped sorrow upon sorrow on innocent men and their families. Of course, the Chicago Police Department facilitated the treachery.

It has been reported that CPD commander Burge approved the torture of at least 118 men in police custody. Moreover, the so-called “Midnight Crew” beat, burned, suffocated, and applied electrical shock to suspects’ genitals to force them to make false confessions.

In 1982, CPD officers arrested Andrew Wilson for murdering two CPD officers. By day’s end, Wilson was treated for head lacerations, chest bruises and second-degree thigh burns. Dr. John Raba examined and treated Wilson. Alarmed with his findings, he urged Police Supt. Richard Brzecek to investigate the case. Instead, Brezcek sent Raba’s letter to then-Cook County State’s Attorney Richard Daley, who refused to respond or act.

In 1987, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Wilson’s confession was coerced. The court ordered Wilson to be given a new trial. Wilson was found guilty in his second trial and sentenced to life in prison. With evidence of flagrant police misconduct, no official ordered an investigation. Therefore, at least 70 more Black men were traumatized and terrorized by Burge and his goons.

In 1990, the Office of Professional Standards for police concluded: “In the matter of alleged physical abuse, the preponderance of the evidence is that abuse did occur and that it was systemic.” Furthermore, command members perpetuated the atrocities by commission or omission.

Decades later, Cook County Judge James Obbish lambasted immunity granted to Guevara’s bald-faced lies; the prosecutors’ case tumbled like Humpty Dumpty.

Chicago expects criminal suspects to exhibit more honor than police or prosecutors. Really?

Marc D. Greenwood, Opelika, Alabama

Sen. Tammy Duckworth goes too far

Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s performance at Tuesday's confirmation hearing of Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth gave a bad look to the face of Illinois. While Duckworth is entitled to ask any questions and form any opinion she likes regarding Hegseth, her delivery left something to be desired.

Duckworth conducted herself the way a 3-year-old child whose toys were taken away would act. Her session was filled with dramatics, hysteria and panic, certainly not the way a mature female war veteran, let alone a senator, should behave. If Duckworth injects this much drama into any of her decision-making regarding the people of Illinois, perhaps she is unqualified to do her job.

Joe Ferro, Garfield Ridge

‘Strings attached’ to L.A. aid would be ‘inhumane’

I would like to amplify what Warren Rodgers Jr. said in his letter on Jan. 14 ("We’re all Americans when disaster hits"). Rodgers was being very civil, which is far more than these GOP members deserve.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, said he expects there will be "strings attached" to any emergency funds for the victims of the recent and calamitous fires in Los Angeles. Thousands of people have lost everything and are now homeless, yet Barrasso and other Republicans, like Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, are politicizing this tragedy, threatening to withhold critically needed federal funding unless local "policy changes" are made.

Words like "despicable" and "disgusting" don't even begin to describe these vile, inhumane, petty and reprehensible people. They, and the people who voted for them, should be completely and utterly ashamed of themselves. But since they are clearly beyond shame, my words are meaningless to them.

These Republicans have shown us, once again, who they are. When we think they can't get any worse, they always go lower.

Bob Chimis, Elmwood Park

Follow the money to Trump

We all know too much about Trump the man, but many ask what is Trumpism? The answer is simple: Follow the money.

For example, Trump was in favor of banning TikTok if it were not sold to U.S. owners because it was a threat to national security. But one of his major donors is a major shareholder in the company that owns TikTok. Trump is now not in favor of the law passed by Congress that bans TikTok unless it is sold to U.S. owners.

Trump denounced H-1B visas that allow highly skilled people from other countries (some non-white) to work in the U.S. Elon Musk (who gave vast sums to Trump's reelection campaign) and his billionaire tech bros are in favor of them. This has enraged the MAGA true believers. Who has Trump now supported? Why, Musk and his pals, of course.

Trumpism is simply doing what the highest bidder wants.

Michael Gorman, River North

Trump actually loves ‘the swamp’

With the inauguration of Donald Trump approaching, here are some numbers to consider and watch during his impending presidency:

In 2023, Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index ranked the U.S. as more corrupt than 68 other nations.

For 2024, the World Population Review ranked the U.S. as the 23rd happiest country in the world.

I will not be surprised if this country's rankings fall further under Trump, who has a history of disdain for the political or civil rights of those who disagree with him and winks at the paying of tribute by those seeking favor from the government, which is to say, over the next four years, from him.

Regarding the latter point, consider the former Trump International Hotel, which is located five blocks from the White House. It had been the basis of lawsuits claiming violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the Constitution because Trump, who had not divested himself of this and other businesses as had been common for previous presidents, was profiting from foreign business at the hotel.

An investigation by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington found that spending by Republican political organizations dropped significantly at the virtually unchanged hotel after Trump's organization sold it in 2022.

It seems likely that the hotel was the place to be seen for those wanting favorable attention from then-President Trump. Now that the opportunity to profit from the presidency has returned, the Trump organization is negotiating to reacquire the hotel, which it had decided that it could do without when its leader was not employed nearby. So much for draining the swamp.

Curt Fredrikson, Mokena

Kudos to Trump? Really?

I just read the recent letter "Kudos to Trump." I couldn't disagree more.

Donald Trump doesn't have candor. He's more like a loose cannon! I've seen his press conferences. He does not take questions he cannot answer because he is not informed, so he avoids those reporters. He does not candidly answer a question. He lies or does not answer the question posed to him and calls everything he doesn't want to acknowledge "fake news," then yells at the person.

I have never heard him answer a question directed to him honestly. The letter writer said he "can think on his feet without handlers."

No one can handle this man. In the presidential debate, he said Haitians were eating cats and dogs! A blatant lie, pulled out of a crazy person's head. He made jokes about a dead golfer's penis. I am old enough to have seen many men run for president with great dignity. Never have I heard such drivel and nonsense by the Republican Party candidate.

He speaks like a man on a downward slide who has no idea of how to make America great. America is weeping because of what this half-wit, his cronies, friends, and party do, and what judges and this country are letting him do to America.

If he and his friends are allowed to continue, he and his friends will walk away millionaires and billionaires, The rest of the nation will be left in tatters. Wake up, America! By the way, he is not a great businessman. He was a rich boy who avoided the draft because Daddy was rich. Daddy gave him wealth; he never earned it. Very hard times are ahead for America. Prices will go up, Trump even has said so because of the tariffs. How is that helping working people?

Connie Orland, Plainfield