Ryan Thoreson on resisting frenzy in favor of a law school education and a legal system capable of holding the center.

In complex times, Ryan Thoreson views his role as an Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law in straightforward terms: to build better lawyers.

Thoreson has earned a national and international reputation for his scholarly work, teaching, and advocacy focusing on the legal and social regulation of gender and sexuality, with particular expertise in constitutional law, human rights, comparative and international law, and law and sexuality.

Thoreson felt drawn to the University of Cincinnati College of Law for many of the same reasons that attract students — the school’s robust human rights programming, an innovative joint degree program with the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and opportunities for students interested in social justice and public interest careers. 

Legal Education Rooted in Respect

With students bringing a range of interests and experiences to the classroom, Thoreson adopts a balanced teaching approach. You see it in his 1L constitutional law course, where he embraces differing interpretations of constitutional principles, statutory frameworks, and judicial philosophy (e.g., originalism vs. living constitutionalism). His focus, always, is to create a classroom environment that encourages deeper engagement with opposing arguments, regardless of one’s opening stance, that students might otherwise dismiss or not encounter.

For example, Thoreson anchors the course with a casebook and supplemental readings spanning the ideological spectrum as a way to promote intellectual humility and encourage all students to understand and anticipate counterarguments, a critical legal skill.

“Regardless of one’s legal or personal point of view, it’s important to be able to think like a lawyer,” Thoreson says.  “That’s one of the essential skills that students gain as first-year students in law school.”

When political actions and headlines swirl, students may have polarized reactions, either becoming reluctant to engage in debate or overly strident and set in their perspective. Thoreson injects as much ideological diversity, pragmatism, and respect as he and the class can muster.

“I worry that it’s becoming more difficult to create a classroom that gives rise to that robust debate,” he says. “I want all students to learn to see and weigh issues from different sides, and to weigh the strength of various arguments, to formulate counterarguments and embrace more challenging hypotheticals.”

“I see my role as creating a learning space where students can engage in legal argument and debate issues in the course of an intellectual exercise in a respectful but critical way. That’s how we can best prepare our students for real-world legal practice, where judges, clients, and opposing counsel may hold very different ideological views.”

The approach has earned Thoreson great respect and admiration from students, who voted him the 2024 recipient of the University of Cincinnati’s Faculty Excellence Award. In 2025, he was awarded the University of Cincinnati LGBTQ Center’s Meem & Gibson Outstanding Service Award for faculty and the College of Law’s Goldman Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

Constitutional Challenge: Then and Now

Thoreson received his J.D. from Yale, where he was Executive Editor of the Yale Law Journal and Managing Editor of the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism. A Rhodes Scholar, he also holds a D.Phil. in Anthropology from the University of Oxford and an A.B. degree magna cum laude in Government and Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality from Harvard University.

He recalls being in law school at a time of heightened political, public, and legal debate regarding the legality of same-sex marriage and the question of whether the Constitution protected marriage equality as a constitutional right.

“I understand, with all of my students, regardless of their stance, just how deeply personal these legal issues can feel,” Thoreson says. “I got engaged midway through law school and was looking at a map and figuring out what states I could and couldn’t get married in. I saw that situation change throughout our engagement. This was regularly discussed in our law school classrooms, including by classmates who felt very differently than I did, and were very actively engaged on the other side.”

Thoreson tries to emphasize to students that beyond any one ruling, the nation’s reliance on the rule of law rests, in part, on lawyers learning to navigate profound disagreements respectfully without dehumanizing or belittling others. At the same time, he encourages students to reflect on the ethical commitments and values they hold deeply and to be able to articulate and defend them powerfully when needed.
 
As a scholar and writer, Thoreson sees a parallel challenge and opportunity. As courts revisit established precedents, it opens new avenues for scholarly inquiry. “You see the court revisiting important precedents on everything from speech to religion to the right to bear arms to abortion,” he says. “It’s reflected in my syllabus, which shows both the constitutional longview, and decisions from the last five years that throw a lot of things into question.”

Thoreson concludes that it’s a good time to be a law student. “I think students see the immediate effects that a dynamic political and judicial landscape has on their lives. I encourage students to consider law school if they’re interested in defending the freedoms and liberties we may take for granted.”

Why Law Still Matters

Whether as scholar, writer, or legal educator, Thoreson remains optimistic that America will somehow maintain regard for the Constitution and the rule of law. “I teach students across a broad spectrum of backgrounds and points of view,” he says. “What I see is that the Constitution provides a rallying point and a way to structure our most polarizing political debates.”

Thoreson adds: “I think the resiliency and enduring nature of that founding document is vital in a time when our media ecosystem and our political landscape have become fragmented, deeply cynical, and personalized. We need a set of shared values and ideals to discuss and negotiate as we figure out the legal and political rules.”

In conclusion, Thoreson offers a few words of caution. “My concern comes from the pace of change and the growing perception among the public that the Constitution and the rule of law can be ignored when it’s politically expedient.”

“Our judicial system is just not meant to address a series of rapid-fire, unconstitutional policies. To work as intended, the courts are designed to be slow-moving and responsive rather than proactive. Our courts are often designed to provide individualized relief rather than structural relief. And that’s why it’s so important for all of us, from citizens to politicians to activists to lawyers, to respect and defend the rule of law rather than leaving it to the courts.”