This essay places George W. Bush's presidency and the Bush administration in some historical context by applying the model of “political time” developed in recent books by Stephen Skowronek (2008) and Keith Whittington (2007). My thesis is that Bush's political failure during his second term was largely the result of structural tensions created by the attacks of September 11, 2001, that no leader could have overcome. This argument is an extension of Skowronek's and Whittington's views that the executive branch's relationship to other governing institutions is shaped primarily by the president's relative position in the party system. In essence, 9/11 undermined the coalition forged by Ronald Reagan by pushing President George W. Bush to pursue radical change. These actions could not be squared with his need, as the leader of the majority party, to maintain electoral stability. A presidency divided against itself in this way cannot, and did not, stand.
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. 1 In 2017, Nevada ratified the proposed Equal Rights Amendment ("ERA") to the Constitution. 2 This vote occurred thirty-five years after the expiration of the deadline set by Congress for three-fourths of the state legislatures to ratify the ERA. 3 Nevertheless, the Nevada Legislature maintained that its action was not symbolic. 4 The state argued that Congress could waive the expired deadline and declare the ERA the Twenty-Eighth Amendment whenever threequarters of the states (thirty-eight) ratify. 5 Drawing on Nevada's action and on the momentum for women's rights created by the #MeToo movement, Illinois ratified the ERA in 2018. 6 This Article argues that Congress can recognize the ERA as part of the Constitution despite the expiration of the ratification deadline in 1982. But Congress should not do so until
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