University of St. Thomas

Robert Kahn was born in Brookline, Massachusetts.  After graduating from Columbia University with a B.A in history, he went to N.Y.U. Law School where he was a Notes and Comment Editor for the Review of Law and Social Change and a member of the Order of the Coif. He clerked for Magistrate-Judge Leonard Bernikow of the Southern District of New York and worked as a staff attorney at Harlem Legal Services. Prior to coming to the School of Law, Kahn taught legal writing for six years at Brooklyn Law School.

Kahn also holds a Ph.D. political science from Johns Hopkins University.  His scholarship has focused on the use of legal sanctions against Holocaust deniers in Western Europe and North America. His book, Holocaust Denial and the Law: A Comparative Study, was published in 2004 by Palgrave-MacMillan. Kahn has also published articles on the cross-buring cases (RAV v. St. Paul and Virginia v. Black), and the constitutionality of restrictions on the Muslim headscarf in the United States and Germany. More recently, Kahn has turned his attention to the Danish Cartoon controversy and how it has triggered a new European debate over the boundary between freedom of speech and hate speech.

Kahn lives with his wife Jacqueline and his two children Jimmy, age 7, and Jenny, age 5, in St. Paul. Despite living in New York City for over a quarter of a century, Kahn remains a die-hard fan of the Boston Red Sox.

REPRESENTATIVE SCHOLARSHIP

Books and Book Chapters:

Robert Kahn, Holocaust Denial and Hate Speech in Genocide Denials and the Law (Ludovic Hennebel and Thomas Hochmann eds. Oxford University Press, 2011).

Strange Bedfellows? Western deniers and the Arab World in Michael Berenbaum ed. NOT Your FATHER'S ANTISEMITISM: HATRED OF THE JEWS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY (Paragon House 2008).

Did the Burning Cross Speak? Virginia v. Black and the Debate Between Justices O’Connor and Thomas over the History of Cross Burning in Austin Sarat ed. STUDIES IN LAW, POLITICS, AND SOCIETY, v.39:75-90 (2006)(peer-reviewed).

Imagining Legal Fairness: A Comparative Perspective, in Jennifer Holmes ed., NEW APPROACHES TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS: INSIGHTS FROM POLITICAL THEORY (Lanham, Md. Lexington Books 2003).

Robert Kahn, Did the Burning Cross Speak? Virginia v. Black and the Debate Between Justices O’Connor and Thomas over the History of Cross Burning in Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, v.39:75-90 (2006)(peer-reviewed).

Robert Kahn, Imagining Legal Fairness: A Comparative Perspective, in Jennifer Holmes ed., New Approaches to Comparative Politics: Insights from Political Theory (Jennifer Holmes ed. Lexington Books 2003).

Recent Articles:

Robert Kahn, A Margin of Appreciation for Muslims? Viewing the Defamation of Religions Debate through Otto-Preminger-Institut v. Austria (1994), 5 U. Charleston L. Rev. 401 (2011).,?sans-serif?;color:black?>

,?sans-serif?;color:black?>Robert Kahn, "The Acquittal of Geert Wilders and Dutch Political Culture," U. of St. Thomas Legal Studies Research Paper, No. 11-31 (posted Nov. 8, 2011).,?sans-serif?;color:black?>

,?sans-serif?;color:black?>Robert Kahn, “Flemming Rose, the Danish Cartoon Controversy and the New European Freedom of Speech,” U. of St. Thomas Legal Studies Research Paper, No. 9-24 (posted Nov. 5, 2009).

The Danish Cartoon Controversy and the Rhetoric of Libertarian Regret, 16 UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW REVIEW 151 (2009).

The Danish Cartoon Controversy and the Exclusivist Turn in European Civic Nationalism, 8 STUDIES IN ETHNICITY AND NATIONALISM 524 (2008)(peer-reviewed).,?sans-serif?;color:black?>

,?sans-serif?;color:black?>Robert Kahn, “Are Muslims the New Catholics? Europe’s Headscarf Laws in Comparative Historical Perspective,” U. of St. Thomas Legal Studies Research Paper, No. 8-26 (posted September 8, 2008).,?sans-serif?;color:black?>,?sans-serif?;color:black?>

,?sans-serif?;color:black?>,?sans-serif?;color:black?>Robert Kahn, “Why There Was No Cartoon Controversy in the United States,” U. of St. Thomas Legal Studies Research Paper, No. 7-28 (posted: August 23, 2007).

The Headscarf as Threat: A Comparison of German and American Legal Discourses, 40 VANDERBILT JOURNAL OF TRANSNATIONAL LAW 417 (2007).

The Legal Regulation of Cross Burning and Holocaust Denial in Comparative Perspective, 83 UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY LAW REVIEW 163 (2006).

The Dilemmas of Prosecuting Holocaust Deniers: A Comparative Perspective, FOCUS ON LAW STUDIES , Vol. 22, No. 1. (2006)(invited).

Robert Kahn, The Legal Regulation of Cross Burning and Holocaust Denial in Comparative Perspective, 83 U. Det. Mercy L. Rev. 163 (2006).

Robert Kahn, The Dilemmas of Prosecuting Holocaust Deniers: A Comparative Perspective, Focus on Law Studies , Vol. 22, No. 1. (2006)(invited). 

Robert Kahn, Rebuttal vs. Unmasking: Legal Strategy in R. v. Zundel, Patterns of Prejudice, Vol. 34, No. 3 (July 2000), pp. 1-15 (peer-reviewed).

Robert Kahn, Informal Censorship of Holocaust Revisionism in the United States and Germany, 9 Geo. Mason U. Civ. Rts. L.J. 125 (1998).

Other Publications:

“Why Europeans Criminalize Holocaust Denial,” THE JEWISH WEEK, March 2006 (op-ed piece).

Courses Taught

Lawyering Skills I
Lawyering Skills II
Islam and Civil Liberties in Europe.

Mailing Address

MSL 400
1000 LaSalle Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55403-2015