University of St. Thomas

Professor Kahn's Curriculum Vitae

Ph.D., John Hopkins
J.D., New York University Law School
B.A., Columbia University

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 law of the Holocaust. His book, Holocaust Denial and the Law: A Comparative Study, was published in 2004 by Palgrave-MacMillan. More recently, Kahn’s scholarship has explored how the United States, Canada and European democracies have responded to the speech and religious claims of Muslim members of society.

Kahn lives with his wife Jacqueline and his two children Jimmy 3 and Jenny 1 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:

HOLOCAUST DENIAL AND THE LAW: A COMPARATIVE STUDY, (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2004).

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).

Recent Articles:

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). 

Rebuttal vs. Unmasking: Legal Strategy in R. v. Zundel, PATTERNS OF PREJUDICE, Vol. 34, No. 3 (July 2000), pp. 1-15 (peer-reviewed).

Other Publications:

Entries on “Beauharnais v. Illinois,” “Chaplinksky v. New Hampshire,” “Clear and Present Danger,” “Hate Speech,” “Joseph McCarthy,” “Military and the Constitution,” “Nelson v. Pennyslvania,” “Parades,” “R.A.V. v. St. Paul,” and “Schenck v. United States,” for  THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE CONSTITUTION (Facts on File, forthcoming).

Entries on “Anti-mask laws,” “Cross burning,” “Virginia v. Black,” “Holocaust denial,” “De Scandalis Magnatum,” “Islam and the First Amendment,” “United States v. Ballard,” and “Serbian Orthodox Church v. Milivojevich” for THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT, (Congressional Quarterly Press, forthcoming).

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

Entries on “Adversarial vs. Inquisitorial Legal Systems,” Civil Law Systems,” “Conscientious Objection,” “Gravity of the Evil,” “Stromberg v. California,” “Seditious Libel” and “Torture” for David Schultz and John R. Vile eds. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CIVIL LIBERTIES IN AMERICA, (M.E. Sharpe, 2005).

Mailing Address:
MSL 400
1000 LaSalle Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55403-2015