Profile

Robert Katz

Professor of Law and John S. Grimes Fellow
Member, ABA Task Force to Combat Antisemitism

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
Lawrence W. Inlow Hall, Room 349
530 W. New York Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3225

Phone: (317) 278-4791
Fax: (317) 278-3326
E-Mail: rokatz@iu.edu

SSRN

Education

A.B. (magna cum laude), 1987, Harvard College
J.D. (Honors), 1992, University of Chicago Law School

Courses

Antisemitism and the Law, First Amendment, Law of Nonprofit Organizations, Trusts & Estates

Bio

Professor Katz earned a J.D. with honors from the University of Chicago Law School, where he served as a comments editor on the University of Chicago Law Review and was awarded the prize for best law review comments.  He also holds an A.B. magna cum laude in Government from Harvard College, where he was awadred the departmental prize for best thesis in political theory. He served as a clerk to the Honorable Stephen G. Breyer, when he served as Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Before joining the IU McKinney faculty in 2001, Professor Katz was a Bigelow Teaching Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School and served as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division's Federal Programs Branch.

Professor Katz is writing Antisemitism and the Law (forthcoming Carolina Academic Press). This casebook, the first on the subject, examines how the legal system manifests and propagates antisemitism and how it can be used to combat it. He is a member of the ABA Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, the founder and director of the Center for the Study of Antisemitism and the Law, and President of the IU-Indy Jewish Faculty and Staff Council.

As a civil rights advocate, Professor Katz served as co-counsel in Stafford v. Carter (S.D. Ind.), a class action brought on behalf of Indiana inmates infected with the hepatitis C virus.  The Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) settled the case by agreeing to pay more than $80 million to treat infected inmates. Professor Katz was also co-counsel in Lee v. Pence (S.D. Ind.) which successfully challenged Indiana’s ban on same-sex marriage. In March 2015, he testified in opposition to proposed amendments to the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act before the Indiana General Assembly’s House Judiciary Committee, objecting that it authorized discrimination against LGBTQ individuals.  He serves on the Government Affairs Committee of the Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), offering guidance on issues such as hate crimes and reproductive freedom. Professor Katz regularly joins fellow Jewish lawyers in Indianapolis for lunch at Shapiro’s Delicatessen.

Publications

(SSRN: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=85800)

Books and Chapters

• "Combatting Anti-Jewish Bias Through Law," Res Gestae (August 2022) (article)
• * "The Truth About Ben and Jerry’s," STANFORD SOCIAL INNOVATION REVIEW, vol. 10, no. 4 (Fall 2012)(with A. Page) (article)
• “`PAGING DR. SHYLOCK...': Jewish Hospitals and the Prudent Re-investment of Jewish Philanthropy" (book chapter)

Law Review and Journal Articles

• "Hepatitis C Litigation: Healing Inmates as a Public Health Strategy," 29 Annals of Health Law 127 (Summer 2020).
• "A Tribute to Eleanor D. Kinney - Introduction," 17 Ind. Health L. Rev. 1 (Spring 2020).
• "The Role of Public Reason in Obergefell v. Hodges," 11 FIU L Rev 177 (2016)
• Indiana’s Flawed Religious Freedom Law, 49 Indiana L. Rev 37 (2015).
• "Sustainable Business," 62 EMORY L. J. 851 (2013)(with A. Page).
• "Is Social Enterprise the New Corporate Social Responsibility?," 34 SEATTLE L. REV. 1351(2011)(with A. Page)(published as part of a symposium issue organized by The Adolf A. Berle, Jr. Center on Corporations, Law & Society at the Seattle University School of Law).
• The Role of Social Enterprise. 35 VERMONT L. REV. 59 (2010) (with A. Page)(published as part of the Vermont Law Review Tenth Annual Symposium on "Corporate Creativity: The Vermont L3C & Other Developments in Social Entrepreneurship").
• Freezing out Ben & Jerry: Corporate Law and the Sale of a Social Enterprise Icon, 35 VERMONT L. REV. 211 (2010)(with A. Page) (published as part of the Vermont Law Review Tenth Annual Symposium on "Corporate Creativity: The Vermont L3C & Other Developments in Social Entrepreneurship").
• The Re-Gift of Life: Can Charity Law Prevent For-Profit Firms from Exploiting Nonprofit Tissue Banks and Donated Tissue?, 55 DEPAUL L. REV. 943 (2006), published as part of the DePaul Law Review and Health Law Institute’s Symposium: “Precious Commodities - The Supply and Demand of Body Parts.”
• Let Charitable Directors Direct: Why Trust Law Should Not Curb Board Discretion Over a Charitable Corporation's Mission and Unrestricted Assets, 80 CHI.-KENT L. REV. 689 (2005), published as part of the Chicago-Kent Law Review’s 2005 Symposium: “Who Guards The Guardians?: Monitoring And Enforcement Of Charity Governance.”
• Too Much Of A Good Thing: When Charitable Gifts Augment Victim Compensation, 53 DEPAUL L. REV. 547 (2003)), published as part of the Depaul Law Review’s Ninth Annual Clifford Symposium On Tort Law And Social Policy: “After Disaster: The September 11th Compensation Fund and the Future of Civil Justice.”
• A Pig in a Python: How the Charitable Response to September 11 Overwhelmed the Law of Disaster Relief, 36 IND. L. REV. 251 (2003), published as part of the John M. Olin Program in Law And Economics at Georgetown University Law Center’s 2002 Symposium: “The Law And Economics Of Providing Compensation For Harm Caused by Terrorism."
• Can Principal-Agent Models Help Explain Charitable Gifts And Organizations? 2000 WIS. L. REV. 1.
• Comment, The Jurisprudence Of Legitimacy: Applying The Constitution To U.S. Territories, 59 U. CHI. L. REV. 779 (1992).

Essays and Reports

• The Legal Column: Do tissue banks have a First Amendment right not to tell potential donors about for-profit processors? LAHEY CLINIC MEDICAL ETHICS 4 (Fall 2006).
• The Legal Column: Who should capture the value of donated tissue?, LAHEY CLINIC MEDICAL ETHICS JOURNAL 4 (Fall 2005). Republished in David Steinberg, ed., Biomedical Ethics: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Moral Issues in Medicine and Biology 306-308 (University Press of New England, 2007).

Book Reviews

• Peter Frumkin, On Being Nonprofit: A Conceptual and Policy Primer, 15 VOLUNTAS: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF VOLUNTARY AND NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS 208 (2004)

Other Publications

• "The Re-Gift of Life: Who Should Capture the Value of Donated Human Tissue," THE HEALTH LAWYER 14(Vol. 18; No. 4: 2006)(publication of the ABA's Health Law Section).
• “Donor Intent,” I PHILANTHROPY IN AMERICA: A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA 120 (2004).
• "Zipping It: Lawyers and Doctors Who Help the Poor Should Both Be Able to Speak Their Minds," LEGAL TIMES 75, 77 (May 21, 2001).

Electronic Publications/Products

• "Current Developments: The Business in Human Tissue," Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis, Hall Center for Law and Health E-newsletter(December 2008).
• "Continuing Their Mission, Jewish Hospitals Reinvest in Philanthropy", The Jewish Daily Forward online (June 18, 2008).

Work in Progress

• Antisemitism and the Law (casebook exploring the relationship between antisemitism and the law)
• The Cincinnati Torah War of 1869 (article)

Presentations

• "Anti-Jewish Quotas and Affirmative Action in Higher Education," 2nd Annual Law vs. Antisemitism Conference, Lewis and Clark Law School, March 27, 2023.
• "Leveraging the Law to Combat Antisemitism and Bias," Anti-Defamation League's 2022 Never Is Now Summit (November 10, 2022)
• "Law and Antisemitism: A Discussion with Professor Robert Katz," ADL Midwest Associate Board Lunch n Learn (Oct. 12, 2022)
• "The Law vs. Antisemitism Project: Promoting Legal Scholarship and Education at the Intersection of Law and Antisemitism," Virtual Brown Bag Lunch Speakers' Series, (April 28, 2022), sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Washington, American Jewish Committee (AJC), The American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists (AAJLJ), The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington Next Gen Lawyers and Lawyers Divisions, and Tzedek DC.
• "The Cincinnati Torah War of 1869 and the Jewish Quest for Equality, Safety, and Flourishing Through Law," presented at Indiana University Maurer School of Law Faculty Colloquium on January 19, 2021.
• "When is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Training Discriminatory?", virtual presentation to the Decalogue Society of Lawyers, November 4, 2021.
• "Hep-C Inmate Litigation and Lessons for Dealing with COVID-19 in Prison Populations," presented to health law scholars and teachers at the 44th Annual Health Law Professors Conference as part of a panel on incarceration as a public health issue. (June 9, 2021)
• "Hep-C Inmate Litigation and Lessons for Dealing with COVID-19 in Prison Populations," an hour-long virtual presentation to prison administrators and correctional health providers attending the 2021 Spring Conference on Correctional Health Care. The Conference was organized by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, whose mission is to improve the quality of inmate health care in correctional facilities and to set standards for health services in correctional facilities. (April 28, 2021).
• “Hepatitis C Inmate Litigation: Using Prisoner Rights to Promote Public Health," presented at Loyola University Chicago School of Law’s Thirteenth Annual Symposium on Health Law and Policy, "Addressing the Health Care Needs of Justice-Involved Populations" (Nov. 15, 2019).
• "Hepatitis C Litigation: Using Prisoner Rights to Promote Public Health,” IU McKinney Annual Fall Continuing Legal Education Program, Health Law Responses to Crisis and Change (Oct. 8, 2019).
• "Hepatitis C Inmate Litigation: The Ethics of Using Prisoner Rights to Promote Public Health," Indiana University Center for Bioethics (Aug. 30th, 2019).
• “Rationing Healthcare in the Shadow of the Eighth Amendment: Lessons from Hepatitis C Inmate Litigation” 42nd Annual Health Law Professors Conference, at Loyola University Chicago School of Law (June 5, 2019)
• Organized and moderated an event entitled “Which Saint Would You Rather Have a Beer with? A semi-serious symposium for all who thirst for inspiration.” Discussants included the Honorable Jane Elizabeth Magnus-Stinson; The Honorable Tanya Walton Pratt; legal and religious studies scholars, and members of the clergy.
• "Anatomy of a Hepatitis C Lawsuit," presentation at the 7th annual meeting of the National Hepatitis Corrections Network, Las Vegas, NV (March 20, 2019).
• “Is Obergefell Publicly Reasonable?,” presented at a symposium entitled “Religion and the Law,” held at Florida International University (October 23, 2015).
• “When Religious Conservatives Foster LGBTQ Children and Teens,” presented at panel sponsored by the AALS Section of Religion and Law, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) (January 5, 2015).
• "What can lawyers learn from watching Marx Brothers movies? What can these brilliant purveyors of anarchy teach students of the rule of law?" Presented at The First Annual Gerald L. Bepko Symposium on the Marx Brothers and the Law, IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law, April 1, 2014.
• “The Role of Wealth Redistribution in the Common Law of Charitable Hospitals and Schools,” presented at Regional Faculty Workshop at Valparaiso University School of Law, Valparaiso, Indiana, March 21, 2014.
• "Common Law Approaches to Relieving Poverty through Charitable Schools and Hospitals," presented at panel entitled “The Role of Nonprofits Under the Affordable Care Act,” co-sponsored by Section of Nonprofit and Philanthropy Law and the AALS Section on Law, Medicine, and Health Care, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), January 3, 2014.
• "Health Care, Government, and Charity: The Affordable Care Act and the Nonprofit Sector," 2013 Annual Conference of the Association for Research Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), Hartford, CT.
• "Common Law Approaches to Relieving Poverty through Charitable Schools and Hospitals," for panel at the 2013 Annual Conference of the Association for Research Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), Hartford, CT.
• Organized and moderated panels entitled “Promoting Charitable Accountability Through Mandatory Disclosures of Information,” “Legal Principles for Changing Charitable Purposes: Who Decides?,” and “Three Different Explanations for What Went Wrong with the Hershey Trust.” Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action Annual Conference (Nov. 15-17, 2012)
• “The Means and Ends of Social Enterprise in the USA” (presentation at the University of Hong Kong, sponsored by the project for Excellence in Capacity-building on Entrepreneurship and Leadership for the Third Sector) November 2, 2012).
• Organized and moderated a panel entitled “Was the State Fair?: Kenneth Feinberg and Panel of Key Actors Discuss Indiana's Compensation Program for Stage Collapse Victims.” Discussants included Kenneth Feinberg, former Special Master of September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, and Greg Zoeller, Indiana Attorney General.
• Discussant, Panel on "Social Entrepreneurship and the Law: The Role of Legal Policy in Promoting Social Change," as part of Randolph W. Thrower Symposium, hosted by the Emory Law Journal, Emory University School of Law, Atlanta, Georgia, February 9, 2012.
• "People versus Planet: Under-explored Tensions in the Triple Bottom Line," presented at Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William & Mary, at symposium on "Managing Green Business: Defining, Regulating, and Supporting Environmentally Responsible Businesses,"organized by the William & Mary Environmental Law & Policy Review, Williamsburg, Virginia, January 28, 2012.
• "Social Enterprise: Organizing for Social Change," presented at Law and Society Association's 2011 annual conference, San Francisco, June 5, 2011.
• "Making Money While Making a Difference: Can Law Help Social Entrepreneurship Transform the World?," panel on Law & Entrepreneurship,Law and Society Association’s 2010 annual meeting, Chicago, Illinois, May 27, 2010.
• "The Economic Role of Social Enterprise," presented at Vermont Law Review Tenth Annual Symposium: "Corporate Creativity: The Vermont L3C & Other Developments in Social Entrepreneurship," Vermont Law School, South Royalton, Vermont, February 19, 2010.
• "The Economic Role of Social Enterprise: A Preliminary Inquiry," Workshop in Multidisciplinary Philanthropic Studies, Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, Indianapolis, January 26, 2010.
• Presenter, “Notion Building: Giving Form to Social Enterprise,” Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University, Bloomington, November 30, 2009.
• Presenter, "Channeling Towards Charity: Presumed Consent to Organ Donation as a Case Study in Pro-Social Default Rules," 2009 Annual Conference of the Association for Research Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), Cleveland, Ohio, November 19, 2009 (for panel on “Presumptions and Default Rules in Nonprofit and Philanthropy Law").
• “You Make Me Sick: Repugnance and Efficiency in Human Tissue Transplantation,” Midwestern Law and Economics Association Annual Conference, Notre Dame Law School, South Bend, Indiana, October 9, 2009.
• “Right Now It’s Only a Notion: Giving Form to Social Enterprise”(with A. Page), Midwestern Law and Economics Association annual conference, Notre Dame Law School, South Bend, Indiana, October 10, 2009.
• Presenter, "The Community Benefit Standard as an Exercise in Legal Reasoning, Community Benefits Symposium, Hall Center for Law and Health, Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis, October 22, 2009.
• "THE ARTIFICE OF THE DEAL, or When is Competition Among Tissue Banks for Referrals of Potential Donors Illegal, Unethical or Otherwise Problematic?" Presentation at plenary session of the 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Tissue Banks, Chicago, Illinois, September 7, 2008.
• "A Critique of the Charitable Trust as a Model for Genomic Biobanks." 2008 Health Law Professors Conference. American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics. Drexel University College of Law, Philadelphia, PA. June 6-7, 2008 (for panel on "Cutting Edge Issues in Biomedical Research").
• “`PAGING DR. SHYLOCK...':Jewish Hospitals and the Prudent Re-investment of Jewish Philanthropy." Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis. April 1, 2008.
• "The play’s the thing: Shakespeare at law school sparks conversation," Indiana Lawyer, March 5-18, 2008.
• "`I Only Have Eyes for You': Exclusive Agreements for Referring Tissue Donors to a Tissue Bank." IUPUI Consortium for Health Policy, Law & Bioethics, Indianapolis, Indiana. March 28, 2008.
• "When Tissue Banks Compete for Transplant Tissue, Who Wins?”, Midwestern Law and Economics Association, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 12, 2007.
• "Does Tax-Exempt Law Discriminate Against Religiously-Affiliated Hospitals - or Should Hospitals that Render More Unto God Render Less Unto Caesar?," 2007 Health Law Professors Conference. American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics. Boston University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts, June 2, 2007.
• "Does the First Amendment Protect Nonprofit Tissue Banks from the Mandatory Disclosure of Information to Potential Donors?" Workshop in Multidisciplinary Philanthropic Studies, Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana, February 20, 2007.
• Panelist, “On a Collision Course?: Nonprofit Advocacy, Campaign Finance Reform, and the First Amendment.” for Symposium on “No Strings Attached?: The First Amendment and Tax-Exempt Organizations.” University of North Carolina School of Law, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, February 16, 2007.
• Panelist, “Roundtable on Teaching Nonprofit Law,” Section on Nonprofit Law and Philanthropy, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools, Washington, D.C., January 6, 2007.
• In an interview with WTHR Channel 13, Professor Katz called for increased oversight of tissue recovery industry.
• "Gimme Some Skin: Defining and Enforcing the Tissue Donor’s Intent in the Absence of `Informed Consent'” Annual Conference. Association for Research Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA). Chicago, Illinois. November 17, 2006. (for panel on "Charitable Donors and the Legal Construction and Enforcement of Donor Intent").
• "Legal Basics of Grantmaking Foundations for New CEOs," Seminar for New CEOs of Foundations. Organized by The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University and the Council on Foundations. Indianapolis, IN. September 27, 2006.
• “Tissue Donation and the Mandatory Disclosure of For-profit Involvement in the Tissue Industry.” New Scholars Workshop. Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS), Palm Beach, FL. July 18, 2006.
• “When For-Profit Firms Profit by Processing Donated Human Tissue: An Economic and Legal Analysis.” ARNOVA Annual Conference. Washington, D.C. November 19, 2005. (for panel on “Contracting, Services and Quality”)
• “Legal Issues Facing the Nonprofit Sector.” Conference on Philanthropy and the Media. McCormick Tribune Foundation. Wheaton, IL. September 12-14, 2005. (for panel on “Tensions in the Nonprofit Sector”)
• “The Tissue Transplantation Industry: A Nonprofit Law Analysis.” Annual Health Law Teachers Conference. American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics. Houston, TX. June 3-4, 2005. (for panel on “The Sale and Trade of Human Organs and Tissues”).
• “Change in Charitable Purpose in Commercial Nonprofit Enterprises.” ARNOVA Annual Conference. Los Angeles, CA. November 19, 2004. (for panel on “Legal Approaches to Nonprofit Accountability”)
• “The Relationship Between Nonprofit and For-profit Firms in the Tissue Transplantation Industry: A Nonprofit Law Perspective.” Health Law Scholars Workshop. Saint Louis University School of Law. Saint Louis, MO. September 18, 2004.
• “Sticker Shock: The Controversy Over Hospital Discounts, Collections, and Charity Care for the Uninsured.” Department of Values and Ethics, Clarian Hospital. Indianapolis, IN. May 20, 2004.
• "Hep-C Inmate Litigation and Lessons for Dealing with COVID-19 in Prison Populations,"an hour-long virtual presentation to prison administrators and correctional health providers attending the 2021 Spring Conference on Correctional Health Care. (April 28, 2021)

Other Activities

• Organizer and moderator for the First Annual Gerald L. Bepko Symposium on the Marx Brothers and the Law: "What can lawyers learn from watching Marx Brothers movies? What can these brilliant purveyors of anarchy teach students of the rule of law? On April 1, 2014, these questions and more will be considered at this first-ever symposium on the Marx Brothers and the Law. Attendees were treated to a screening of Horse Feathers (1932), which tells the story of Quincy Adams Wagstaff (Groucho), a new college president in a challenging environment. The symposium is named in honor of Jerry Bepko, former IUPUI Chancellor, Dean of this law school, and noted Marx Brothers aficionado.
• Organizer and moderator, panel on "Uncivil Speech and the First Amendment," IU McKinney School of Law.
• On October 14 and 15, 2010, Professor Katz joined a small group of experts for a 1 1/2 day workshop on compensation for victims of terrorism, convened by Syracuse University's Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism, to explore programmatic alternatives for compensating victims and develop policy recommendations. Katz contributed his expertise on charitable assistance and its interaction with compensation schemes that make payments to the same group of victims.
• Member, Indiana Attorney General’s Nonprofit Advisory Committee. Fall 2005-present.
• WTHR(NBC affiliate). Interviewed for "13 Investigates" report on "Experts call for oversight of tissue recovery industry," Indianapolis, IN. November 20, 2006.
• American Bar Association Section Advisor to Drafting Committee to Revise the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, organized by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Fall 2004 - Summer 2006.
• Secretary, Section on Nonprofit Law and Philanthropy, Association of American Law Schools (AALs).
• Visiting Scholar, National University of La Plata (UNLP), Buenos Aires, Argentina, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences. Summer (pursuant to a Fulbright Educational Partnership between UNLP and School of Law). Summer 2003.