Professor Katz's Casebook Published by Carolina Academic Press
09/25/2025
IU McKinney Professor Robert Katz’s casebook, Antisemitism and the Law, has been published by Carolina Academic Press. The book is a resource for understanding the legal history of antisemitism and legal strategies to combat it. It explores how legal systems have been wielded both to oppress Jews and to fight antisemitism, offering a global and historical perspective on the intersection of law and antisemitism.
When Professor Katz decided to teach a course on antisemitism and the law, he found no casebook and little scholarship on the subject. “I was troubled that law schools weren't teaching courses on antisemitism and law, despite offering multiple courses on discrimination against other marginalized groups,” he said. “This meant generations of lawyers were graduating ignorant about how law harms Jews and can be used to help them. The horrific events of October 7th made the need for this education even more urgent.”
The casebook fills a critical gap in legal education, Professor Katz said. “It provides the foundational text needed to make courses on law and antisemitism widely available, and it can supplement existing courses like Civil Rights Law, First Amendment, and others where antisemitism has been largely omitted,” he continued. “I also hope it will provide legal scholars with resources to assist them in researching and writing on the subject.”
Professor Katz is teaching a course on the subject in fall 2025. “Students will learn how legal systems have wielded power over Jews—both to oppress and to liberate,” he said. “By examining how antisemitism is codified in law, but also how law can be mobilized to oppose antisemitism, students gain unique insights into how law and antisemitism, respectively, operate more broadly. This inquiry will make them better readers, thinkers, and advocates—and potentially more just and empathetic citizens.”
The book has received glowing reviews since news of its imminent publication was announced in spring 2025. The Brandeis Center joined the list of organizations reviewing and recommending the book, and it was recently reviewed by Jotwell, which called it "one of the best works of recent scholarship relating to the legal profession."
Professor Katz is a member of the ABA Presidential Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, and founder and director of the Center for the Study of Antisemitism and the law, a nonprofit organization he founded to promote research and education at the intersection of law and antisemitism. He also is president of the IU Indianapolis Jewish Faculty and Staff Council.
