The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday weighed whether the Equal Rights Amendment, fought for by its supporters for decades, must be recognized in the U.S. Constitution, or if the states failed to ratify the amendment prior to a deadline.

Three state legislatures that recently ratified the stalled amendment—Nevada, Illinois and Virginia—sued in 2020 to force the archivist of the United States to certify the amendment, which would constitutionally guarantee legal gender equality for women and men. An amendment is valid after three-fourths of the states ratify it, and Virginia claimed to be the 38th to do so two years ago.