Hawaii's denial of marriage licenses to same-sex couples was first challenged in state court in 1991, and the plaintiffs initially met with some success. In 1993, a ruling by the Hawaiian Supreme Court made Hawaii the first state in the United States to consider legal challenges to bans on same-sex marriage. However, Hawaii voters later modified the state Constitution in 1998 to allow the Legislature to restrict marriage to mixed-sex couples. By the time the Supreme Court of Hawaii considered the final appeal in the case in 1999, it upheld the state's ban on same-sex marriage.