attack on society by encoding this aberrant behavior in legal form before society itself has decided it should be legal. [...] Let us defend the oldest institution, the institution of marriage between male and female as set forth in the Holy Bible." Despite his previous position, he later stated his opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment and argued that it was unnecessary because the states already had the power to ban gay marriages. However, when the amendment came to the Senate floor, he was one of the two Democratic senators who voted in favor of cloture. Abortion On March 11, 1982, Byrd voted against a measure sponsored by Senator Orrin Hatch that sought to reverse Roe v. Wade and allow Congress and individual states to adopt laws banning abortions. Its passing was the first time a congressional committee supported an anti-abortion amendment. In 1995, Byrd voted against a ban on intact dilation and extraction, a late-term abortion procedure typically referred to by its opponents as "partial-birth abortion". In 2003, however, he voted for the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which prohibits intact dilation and extraction. Byrd also voted against the 2004 Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which recognizes a "child in utero" as a legal victim if he or she is injured or killed during the commission of a crime of violence. Richard Nixon era In April 1970, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a plan to replace the United States Electoral College with direct elections of presidents. Byrd initially opposed direct elections on the key vote and was one of two senators to switch votes in favor of the proposal during later votes. In April 1970, as the Senate Judiciary Committee delayed a vote on Supreme Court nominee Harry Blackmun, Byrd stated that "no nomination should be voted on within 24 hours after the hearing" after the previous two Supreme Court nominees had delays and was one of the 17 committee members who went on record of assuring Blackmun's nomination would be reported favorably to the full Senate. In October 1970, Byrd sponsored an amendment protecting members of Congress and those elected that have not yet assumed office. Byrd mentioned the 88 political assassinations in the United States and said state law was not adequate to handle the increase in political violence. In February 1971, after Fred R. Harris and Charles Mathias requested the Senate Rules Committee change the rules to