The recognition of same-sex marriages generates debate on both the federal and state levels. Either legislatively or judicially, same-sex marriage is legal in seven states. Other states allow civil unions or domestic partnerships, which grant all or part of state-level rights, benefits, and/or responsibilities of marriage. Some states have statutes or constitutional amendments limiting marriage to one man and one woman. These variations raise questions about the validity of such unions outside the contracted jurisdiction and have bearing on the distribution of federal benefits. This report discusses DOMA and legal challenges to it. It reviews legal principles applied to determine the validity of a marriage contracted in another state and surveys the various approaches employed by states to enable or to prevent same-sex marriage. The report also examines House and Senate resolutions introduced in previous Congresses proposing a constitutional amendment and limiting federal courts' jurisdiction to hear or determine any question pertaining to the interpretation of DOMA. Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriages on May 17, 2004, as a result of a November 2003 decision by the state's highest court that denying gay and lesbian couples the right to marry violated the state's constitution.1 Similarly, state supreme courts in New Jersey,2 California,3 Connecticut,4 and Iowa5 found that denying same-sex couples the right to marry violated their state constitutions. In addition, the California, Connecticut, and Iowa courts found that parallel statutory structures, including domestic partnerships and/or civil unions, were not the constitutional equivalent of civil marriage. However, in New Jersey, the court left open the option for the state legislature to provide a parallel statutory structure which would allow same-sex couples to enjoy the same rights, privileges, and burdens as married opposite-sex couples.6 While the aforementioned states legalized same-sex marriages judicially, on April 7, 2009, Vermont became the first state to legalize same-sex marriages legislatively. State legislators garnered a sufficient number of votes to override the governor's veto. Similarly, governors in Maine,7 New Hampshire, New York,8 and Washington9 signed bills legalizing same-sex marriages.

Plant Biology is a new textbook written for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students. It is an account of modern plant science, reflecting recent advances in genetics and genomics and the excitement they have created. The book begins with a review of what is known about the origins of modern-day plants. Next, the special features of plant genomes and genetics are explored. Subsequent chapters provide information on our current understanding of plant cell biology, plant metabolism, and plant developmental biology, with the remaining three chapters outlining the interactions of plants with their environments. The final chapter discusses the relationship of plants with humans: domestication, agriculture and crop breeding. Plant Biology contains over 1,000 full color illustrations, and each chapter begins with Learning Objectives and concludes with a Summary.

On June 26, 2000, in a special ceremony at the White House, the completion of the 'rough draft' of the human genome was announced. This milestone, which has been compared to the discoveries of Galileo, and other advances in genetics have created novel legal issues relating to genetic information. The Human Genome Project, with its goal of producing detailed maps of the 23 pairs of human chromosomes and sequencing the three billion nucleotide bases that make up the human genome, has been instrumental in the identification of genes implicated in various diseases including glaucoma, colon cancer, and cystic fibrosis. With the identification of these genes comes the hope of genetic therapies to cure disease but this scientific accomplishment is not without potential problems. For instance the presence of a cancer causing gene may indicate a predisposition but does not guarantee that the person will contract the disease: How should an employer or insurer respond? The ethical, social, and legal implications of these technological advances have been the subject of significant scrutiny and concern. This new book discusses federal law, state statutes and legislation related to genetic information.