BREAKING NEWS ~ Marriage amendment fails on House floor News
BREAKING NEWS ~ Marriage amendment fails on House floor

[JURIST] AP is reporting that the US House of Representatives [official website] has defeated a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive]. House leaders scheduled the vote [JURIST report] on the Marriage Protection Amendment [PDF text; H.J. Res. 88 summary] despite a failed vote on the Senate floor [JURIST report] in June. Last month, President Bush urged Congress to approve the amendment [JURIST report].

The House vote was 236-187 [roll call] in favor of the proposal, falling 47 votes short of the two-thirds majority necessary to approve a constitutional amendment. To become law, a constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority in each house of Congress followed by ratification by three-quarters of the states. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.