The Volokh Conspiracy

The Volokh Conspiracy: "Perhaps the most remarkable allegation involves Connell’s teaching People v. Goetz, which considers the legal standard for when self-defense is justified. Most casebooks go into detail about the race of the defendant and the race of the victim in this case. Dressler’s popular casebook, which I use, goes on for many pages about the role of race in the Goetz case. Dressler uses it for a long and interesting discussion about whether a “reasonable person” notices race, which goes more broadly as to the pros and cons of using rules versus standards. It’s a tricky question, and usually students divide on it. But Connell happened to use the Kaplan casebook, which doesn’t mention race at all. So Professor Connell told the class about the race of the individuals, and asked them if that should matter — essentially correcting the strange absence of that issue in the Kaplan casebook. Two students in the class apparently concluded that Connell was racist because he raised the issue himself even though it wasn’t mentioned in their casebook."