Last fall, Oprah Winfrey said that, if Trump won, women could very well lose the right to vote.
CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4k5M8E_1uOk [:21] to hear it.
I asked Grok, “What would it take for women in the USA to lose the right to vote?” The extensive answer is below.
For women in the USA to lose the right to vote, a constitutional amendment would be required to repeal or modify the 19th Amendment, which grants women suffrage. This process is deliberately difficult and involves the following steps:
- Proposal: A constitutional amendment must be proposed either by a two-thirds vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of state legislatures (34 out of 50 states). The convention method has never been used.
- Ratification: The proposed amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the states (38 out of 50), either through state legislatures or state ratifying conventions, as specified by Congress.
Key Considerations:
- Legal and Political Barriers: The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, is entrenched in U.S. law. Any attempt to repeal it would face significant opposition, as voting rights are a cornerstone of democratic principles. Courts, including the Supreme Court, would likely scrutinize any legislation or actions restricting voting rights under existing constitutional protections, such as the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
- Practical Challenges: Public opinion strongly supports universal suffrage. Mobilizing the required supermajorities in Congress or among states to propose and ratify such a change would be nearly impossible given current political and cultural norms. Women make up roughly half the electorate, and their voting power would influence lawmakers against supporting such a measure.
- Historical Precedent: No constitutional amendment granting rights has ever been repealed. The closest example is the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition (18th Amendment), but that addressed a policy issue, not a fundamental right.
Hypothetical Scenarios:
- Extreme Political Shift: A drastic change in political ideology, such as the rise of an authoritarian regime or a supermajority of lawmakers opposed to women’s suffrage, would be necessary. This would require a level of political upheaval unprecedented in modern U.S. history.
- State-Level Restrictions: States could attempt to restrict voting access through laws (e.g., voter ID requirements, felony disenfranchisement, or gerrymandering), but these would not explicitly target women’s right to vote and would likely face legal challenges under federal law, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
- Judicial Overreach: A Supreme Court ruling reinterpreting the 19th Amendment in a way that undermines its protections could theoretically occur, but this is highly unlikely given precedent and the amendment’s clear language.
Conclusion: Repealing women’s right to vote would require an extraordinary and improbable combination of legislative, judicial, and societal changes. It would face massive resistance, legal challenges, and public backlash, making it effectively unattainable under current conditions.
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