President Joe Biden announced on Friday that he considers the Equal Rights Amendment to have been ratified. His statement “affirm[ed] what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: the 28th Amendment is the law of the land,

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

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

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

The remarks were largely a symbolic gesture of support for a century-long campaign to enshrine gender equality in the Constitution. But advocates said they could add heft to a future legal fight.

The struggle over the Equal Rights Amendment started more than a century ago when leading suffragist Alice Paul first proposed it shortly after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.

In his final week as president, Biden is using his bully pulpit to try to push forward the amendment that would enshrine sex equality in the U.S. Constitution.

Legal scholars say President Joe Biden might be right about the Equal Rights Amendment — but his declaration on Friday has no legal significance. In a surprise move on his way out of office, Biden proclaimed that the amendment has met the requirements for ratification and is now part of the Constitution.

The ERA’s deadline expired decades ago, but the president argues that recent approvals by three states put the amendment over the top.

The Democrat’s statement, coming days before he is replaced by Donald Trump, is unlikely to have any impact. Presidents do not have any role in the amendment process.