By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill to curb same-sex marriage on Thursday after rejecting concerns the measure may be unconstitutional.
On a vote of 233-194, the House sent the proposal to the Senate where members of both parties said it will likely die. But it could help rev up an election-year issue.
Last week, on a related front, the Senate easily blocked a bid pushed by President Bush to amend the Constitution to define marriage as a union strictly between a man and a woman.
The House measure, also supported by the administration, offers a different approach. It would forbid federal judges from requiring one state to recognize a same-sex marriage licensed in another.
Democrats accused Bush and fellow Republicans of pushing the proposals merely to rally their conservative base for the November congressional and presidential contests.
"This debate is about a national election," Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, said in opposing the bill. "We are playing with fire with this bill, and that fire could destroy the nation we love."
"I rise in defense of the Constitution, in defense of the separation of powers," said House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat. "What's next? No judicial review of laws that restrict freedom of speech or religion?"
House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said, "To insinuate this bill is an attack on the foundation of our government is just plain wrong."
Sensenbrenner said the framers of the Constitution gave Congress power to limit judicial authority.
Saying Thomas Jefferson had voiced "fears about judicial powers being unchecked," Sensenbrenner said, "This bill is a check on judicial power."
While Democrats called the bill unprecedented, backers said Congress had moved before to limit courts' authority on matters from cleaning up hazardous waste to protecting trees.
"If limiting the jurisdiction of the federal courts is good enough to protect trees, shouldn't it be good enough to protect a state's marriage policy?" Sensenbrenner said.
The House bill would prohibit federal courts, even the Supreme Court, from considering challenges to the 1996 U.S. Defense of Marriage Act, which empowered each state to decide on its own whether to allow same-sex marriage.
Opponents contend the bill would violate the equal protection clause by cutting off from federal judicial review a law affecting a specific minority.
"Congress cannot and should not shut the federal courthouse door to married gay and lesbian couples," said Chris Anders of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The bill was drafted in response to what backers denounce as "activist" judges and local officials who permit same-sex marriage. Critics say such unions devalue child-rearing, traditional marriages.
Bush in February called on Congress to approve an amendment to ban same-sex marriages after Massachusetts' highest court ruled gay couples had a right to wed and San Francisco issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The actions triggered lawsuits nationwide.
Polls show most Americans oppose same-sex marriage, but split on whether there should be a constitutional amendment to ban it. Surveys also find Americans believe several other issues are far more important, such as health care and the economy.
