Trump administration casts doubt on women's rights amendment push

FILE PHOTO: A demonstrator holds a sign calling for an equal rights amendment (ERA) during in the Third Annual Women's March at Freedom Plaza in Washington, U.S., January 19, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Wednesday poured cold water on a new effort to ratify a decades-old proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would ensure women have equal rights to men.

The U.S. Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel issued a legal opinion saying it was too late for additional states to sign on to the push started in 1972 that led to 35 states backing it, three short of the required number.