By pretending that there is a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution when there is most decidedly not, Joe Biden has created a small-scale constitutional crisis. This is not because his lie will matter a great deal in practice — were the matter to come before the Supreme Court, it would be decided 9-0 against Biden’s claim — but because he has created a split in the executive branch that cannot stand within our system of government. In his tweet, Biden incorrectly insisted that the Equal Rights Amendment had passed and was “the law of the land.” The National Archivist, by contrast, says that this is not true. But the National Archivist works within the executive branch, which means that she works under the supervision of . . . Joe Biden. This means that, by telling the truth, the National Archivist is in open rebellion against her boss.

This problem could be easily resolved by Joe Biden ordering the National Archivist to certify the 28th Amendment, and then either reversing his position or firing her if she refuses. But, because he is a reckless coward, Biden has not issued such an order, and, per his office, he will not issue such an order. In consequence, the President of the United States is saying that the law is one thing, and a subordinate is saying that the law is another thing, and we have no available means by which to resolve the divergence. In effect, the executive is divided. Were Biden not 70 hours away from leaving office, this would be a serious problem indeed.