NY's top court keeps equal rights amendment question on November ballot for now

ALBANY — New York’s proposed equal rights amendment banning discrimination against gender identity and those who sought an abortion will remain on the ballot this fall for now after the state’s highest court on Thursday said it will not hear a challenge from Republicans.

Republicans sued to block the amendment from being on the ballot, but the Court of Appeals, in a one-sentence decision, dismissed the case saying “no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.”

If approved by voters, what’s known as the “Equal Rights Amendment,” would prohibit discrimination based on factors including a person’s ethnicity, age, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. It also would codify reproductive rights in New York’s constitution at a time when other states seek to restrict access to abortion services.

The ruling was a win for Democrats who are looking to boost voter turnout by framing key battleground House races and what's becoming a close presidential election around the need to protect abortion access following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

Though the state’s highest court dismissed what’s known as an automatic right to appeal, the Republicans still have another legal avenue. Their attorneys said they plan to use that option and ask the Court of Appeals to hear their case under a motion for leave to appeal.

"I’m quite surprised by the decision to hold that we don’t have a right to be heard on this case, because it concerns an important matter that pertains to the state constitution,” Chris Browne, one of the attorneys representing the Republicans, told Newsday. “We don’t agree with the court’s interpretation of our right to be heard, but we intend to press our right to be heard."

State Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox in a statement Thursday said the court was “wrong to reject the challenge,” and “should have taken the case.”

Republican Assemb. Marjorie Byrnes of Livingston County filed the initial lawsuit saying the Democratic-led State Legislature did not follow the proper procedure when it voted to place the amendment on the ballot before getting an opinion from the state attorney general.

A lower court sided with Byrnes essentially kicking the amendment off the ballot, however, a midlevel court in June overturned that ruling saying Byrnes’ lawsuit wasn’t filed in the time allotted for challenging ballot status.

State Attorney General Letitia James, who defended the state against the lawsuit, did not release a statement on the Court of Appeals decision Thursday, but previously called the midlevel court’s decision to keep the amendment on the ballot a “huge victory.”

For now, the amendment will remain on the ballot for Nov. 5.