House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, right, accompanied by Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

(This post was updated at 9:45 p.m. EST. No vote to move the bill to the House floor was taken. The marathon hearing finished at 9:30 p.m. EST, and is to resume at 10 a.m. EST on Friday.)

The House Judiciary Committee debated the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act for hours Thursday — and despite protracted criticism of the bill from the nation’s leading internet engineers and companies, lawmakers repeatedly rejected attempts to ...