Congresswoman Martha Griffiths of Michigan stands outside the House wing of the Capitol shortly after the House passed the Equal Rights Amendment in August 1970. Griffiths used a long-shot parliamentary maneuver to dislodge ERA from the Judiciary Committee, where it had languished for years. Eventually, ERA passed the Senate and went to the states for ratification in 1972, where it failed to muster the necessary support to become a constitutional amendment.