House committee confirms hearings on constitutional amendment

House Judiciary Committee chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) confirmed on Thursday that his panel will examine whether an amendment to the U.S. Constitution is needed to preserve traditional marriage. Sensenbrenner said a series of at least five hearings on the subject would begin this month and last perhaps until July. "The concept of marriage is older than our Constitution," he told reporters. "It is older than our nation. It is older than any nation on the earth. Yet today a few judges are being asked to rewrite thousands of years of human history and redefine the simple paradigm of traditional marriage." Sensenbrenner did not indicate whether he supported a constitutional amendment now, but he said traditional marriage has been practiced by virtually every race and religion for thousands of years. He said such marriages have been the "basic block of government" throughout the history of the human race. No constitutional government can replace "mom and dad governing what their kids can do and what goes on under their roof," he said.