Draft amendment. Not yet rated or edited by the WeAmend community.
We aspire to be a land of equal opportunity. Most Americans believe our laws should treat everyone identically (or at least neutrally), and avoid declaring winners or losers by tilting the playing field.
The theory behind this amendment is to limit governmental discrimination based on who you are as individual. Instead of anointing, by statue, a few protected groups1, like race or sexual orientation, this amendment seeks to find common ground by focusing on the individual’s identity and affiliation.
Inclusive instead of exclusive.
Everyone should see themselves reflected in this amendment, and thus have a mutual, good faith reason to pass fair and non-discriminatory laws. Whether that “identity” is religious, trans-sexual, or Hispanic. And whether those groups are veterans, homeschoolers or Wicaans.
Such an amendment would automatically incorporate the ERA and subsume many of our racial and national origin protections, while clarifying the haphazard incorporation of the 14th Amendment.
An Equal Treatment Amendment would support our deep respect for individualism and fairness, even across ideological lines.
Draft ETA-19-07
Equal Treatment Amendment
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 personal identity or group affiliation.
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.
The law has always struggled with the concept of using discriminatory treatment as a remedy for inequitable past outcomes. But sometimes fighting fire with fire is the most efficacious approach. So, the WeAmend community might debate an alternate Section 2, such as this:
Section 2. (Alt) The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. Where such inequalities persist, federal and state governments, including their courts, may provide temporary relief until the inequalities are predominately resolved.
Like the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the 14th, this amendment applies to all “persons” in the United States. But should it only apply to citizens? And do corporate personhood analogies apply?
- Article 21 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Human Rights illustrates how these lists quickly spiral out off control. It states: 1. Any discrimination based on any ground such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be prohibited.