Meghan J. Ryan

Law Professor at SMU focused on torts, law & science, and criminal law & procedure.

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

What happens when this Court's originalism and disregard of precedent meet the most explicitly living constitution test there is--the evolving standards of decency test of the 8th A? I explore the potential obliteration of decades of precedent here: https://t.co/3nYdUCGRuu

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

@lsolum Thanks!

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

Thanks, @lsolum, for reading and highly recommending it!

[Lawrence Solum @lsolum]

Ryan on Retribution and the Timing of Desert Decisions, https://t.co/kmjqVELkRK - Meghan J. Ryan (Southern Methodist University - Dedman School of Law) has posted Time and Retribution (89 Mo. L. Rev. 1251 (2024)) on SSRN.

[Death Penalty Information Center @DPInfoCtr]

Idaho House widely passes bill to make firing squad main execution method @pfannyyy @IdahoCapitalSun #deathpenalty https://t.co/HOkHYe7Q3X

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

@kemiller41 @CalifLRev Congrats!!!

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

@MistiLehman @PrestonwoodElem Congratulations, Ms. Rodriguez!

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

@Profleoyu @UMassLaw Congrats, Leo! I love MA.

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

With news of AI predicting crime circulating again on X, I thought it might be a good time to mention my forthcoming @TulaneLawReview piece, which emphasizes importance of digging into differences between humans and machines--an issue at the heart of law: https://t.co/RyjRvY4FhQ

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

For those of you still on here, I just posted my short piece on Grants Pass, which @OSJCrimLaw kindly invited me to write. It calls out the Ct for again chipping away at the 8th A by quietly narrowing the def'ns of "cruel and unusual" & "punishments" https://t.co/jKihm19HWV

[Joseph Allen @j_g_allen]

We are at a precipice.

The World Health Organization has declared clean indoor air a fundamental human right, and ventilation is a key component of ensuring clean indoor air. The current standards governing our ventilation rates are not based on health and have not been for decades.

There does seem to be alignment forming on health-focused ventilation targets. A group of more than 40 international experts wrote a commentary in Science in March 2024 proposing indoor air quality standards, wherein they recommended … 30 cfm/p17; the same target recommended by The Lancet COVID-19 Commission,13 and the same health-focused ventilation target used 100 years ago.

The lessons from our past combined with recent experiences present an unambiguous call to action: to recommit to ventilation not as a technical standard for minimally acceptable conditions but as a cornerstone of public health.

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

@OrinKerr @BrianLeiter @StanfordLaw @BerkeleyLaw Congrats, Orin!

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

@EnergyLawProf Yay!

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

A colleague recently directed me to this great article (which I somehow missed back in April) by @ljstprof about rehabilitation on death row, as demonstrated by the case of Brian Dorsey (Missouri). Congrats, and thanks for discussing my work, Prof. Sarat! https://t.co/U04B0nOThU

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

Finally, the 5th Cir. issues its opinion in Hopkins v. Watson--upholds lifetime felon disenfranchisment provision that was challenged pursuant to 8th A.

[Chris “Law Dork” Geidner @chrisgeidner]

BREAKING: The full Fifth Circuit, on a 13-6 vote, upholds Mississippi’s lifetime ban on voting by those convicted of any of a number of felonies. A prior three-judge panel had held that the ban violates the 8th Amendment. The full court rejected that. https://t.co/dP7LsF1gxW

[SMU Dedman School of Law @SMULawSchool]

Professor @MeghanJRyan's article, "Taking Another Look at Second-Look Sentencing," was cited in Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent in Trump v. United States.

Read the article: https://t.co/uWuMf4ERCf

Read the opinion: https://t.co/LoV3Cikzvu

[Maurice Chammah🍹🎻 @MauriceChammah]

#Breaking: Texas hides the source of its execution drugs. @ChiaraEisner just revealed it on @NPR.

Rite Away in San Antonio sold lethal pentobarbital to the state’s prisons while facing a DEA lawsuit, fines, and other accusations around opioid deaths.

https://t.co/J3XscGMISw

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

@ProfBuchhandler Congrats!

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

@ALKM27 Hard agree.

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

Not surprisingly, Ct finds no 8th A violation in Grants Pass. Majority also doesn't acknowledge evolving standards of decency & instead focuses on historical approach. Not surprising for this Ct, but significant considering ESD are at the heart of traditional 8th A jurisprudence.

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

@ALKM27 Congrats!

[Meghan J. Ryan @MeghanJRyan]

@Profleoyu @WLULawReview @profalankchen @nsmithdrelich @athenais1674 Congrats, Leo!