Last Friday, former President Biden declared the Equal Rights Amendment "the law of the land" - so why has it failed to become the nation's 28th constitutional amendment.

The Democrat’s statement, coming days before he is replaced by Republican Donald Trump, is unlikely to have any impact.

President Joe Biden has weighed in on the decades-long Equal Rights Amendment debate, but does his statement hold any weight? Experts say no.

Presidents have no direct role in approving constitutional amendments. So what could President Biden’s pronouncement recognizing a new one actually do?

“The American Bar Association (ABA) has recognized that the Equal Rights Amendment has cleared all necessary hurdles to be formally added to the Constitution as the 28th Amendment,” Biden wrote. “I agree with the ABA and with leading legal constitutional scholars that the Equal Rights Amendment has become part of our Constitution.

Did Florida ever ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, the 1972 amendment that declared women equal under the law?

President Biden says he believes the amendment has met the requirements to be enshrined in the Constitution. Its history has been long and complex.

The Equal Rights Amendment, which would prohibit discrimination based on gender, was sent to the states for ratification in 1972. Congress set a deadline of 1979 for three-quarters of state legislatures to ratify the amendment, then extended it to 1982.

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand says at a news conference an hour after President Joe Biden issued a statement of his belief that the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified that the day marks a historic achievement for women and girls as equality becomes enshrined in the Constitution after Biden's recognition of the ERA as law enables millions to challenge discriminatory laws in court.