On November 9, 2005, the US Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommitee on the Constitution voted 5-4 to approve a proposed constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage in the US as only between a man and woman. The Marriage Protection Amendment failed to garner the two-thirds majority in each house required for it to go to the state legislatures for ratification. The Senate voted 49-48 against the measure, and the House of Representatives voted 236-187 in favor, 47 votes shy of the required super-majority.

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