“You Just Need to Do It!”: When Texts Encouraging Suicide Do Not Warrant Free Speech Protection

Is it constitutional to hold an individual criminally liable for another’s suicide when words alone drive the conviction? After a Massachusetts court convicted Michelle Carter of involuntary manslaughter following the suicide of her boyfriend Conrad Roy in 2014, the answer seemed to be “yes.” Although Carter’s conviction—which focused on the content of her text messages—was a first-of-its-kind, that was not the case for long. Just five years later, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts brought similar charges against Inyoung You for causing the suicide of her boyfriend, Alexander Urtula, also via text. Although the facts in the two cases are not identical, they both raise the question of whether the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects this type of speech. The United States is built upon a foundation that safeguards freedom of speech. There are important limits, however, on just how far that protection extends. In 2016, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Commonwealth v. Carter focused on a First Amendment carveout—speech integral to criminal conduct—when convicting Carter of involuntary manslaughter. But as critics have emphasized, that was arguably a stretch of the exception. This Note argues that, although the reasoning of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court was not terribly convincing, criminalizing speech that encourages another person’s suicide can be constitutional. Ultimately, Massachusetts’s proposed bill, aptly named Conrad’s Law, which criminalizes this type of speech and conduct, could both eliminate future First Amendment questions and protect those struggling with mental illnesses

Let’s Talk About Sex: A Discussion of Sexual Orientation Discrimination Under Title VII

On July 18, 2018, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held, in Bostock v. Clayton County Board of Commissioners, that Title VII does not protect against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the workplace. To the Eleventh Circuit, sexual orientation discrimination is distinct from sex discrimination, which the statute explicitly prohibits. Many courts continue to follow this traditional rule and agree with the Eleventh Circuit’s decision. The Second and Seventh Circuits, however, have instead followed the guidance of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that enforces Title VII, and held the opposite. The Supreme Court has not directly addressed the question of whether Title VII’s ban on discrimination “because of . . . sex” also protects against sexual orientation discrimination in particular, but that may not be the case for long. This Comment argues, ahead of the Supreme Court’s anticipated decision in the Bostock appeal, that the Supreme Court should follow the guidance of the EEOC and definitively hold that sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace is prohibited by Title VII. By doing so, the Supreme Court will remain faithful to the purpose of Title VII—equality in the workplace—and will follow its own precedent that has laid the groundwork for a more expansive reading of “because of . . . sex.

The genetic architecture of the human cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex underlies our complex cognitive capabilities, yet little is known about the specific genetic loci that influence human cortical structure. To identify genetic variants that affect cortical structure, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of brain magnetic resonance imaging data from 51,665 individuals. We analyzed the surface area and average thickness of the whole cortex and 34 regions with known functional specializations. We identified 199 significant loci and found significant enrichment for loci influencing total surface area within regulatory elements that are active during prenatal cortical development, supporting the radial unit hypothesis. Loci that affect regional surface area cluster near genes in Wnt signaling pathways, which influence progenitor expansion and areal identity. Variation in cortical structure is genetically correlated with cognitive function, Parkinson's disease, insomnia, depression, neuroticism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder