This September will mark 25 years since 9/11 and the inauguration of the “war on terror.” On Sept 9 & 10, join @knightcolumbia.org and the Li Center at @columbiajournalism.bsky.social for a major symposium about the war on terror’s legacy for democratic freedom. 1/ knightcolumbia.org/events/the-f...

The Forever War and the First Amendment

knightcolumbia.org

COME WORK at the ACLU! @aclu-norcal.bsky.social is hiring attorneys to work on tech and civil rights (my team) and the criminal legal/immigration system. These folks will work at the cutting edge of legal and policy efforts in California and beyond. Apply here: www.aclunorcal.org/jobs/staff-a...

Staff Attorney / Senior Staff Attorney - ACLU of Northern California

Develop and carry out litigation and policy advocacy to advance to protect and defend civil rights and civil liberties for all Californians.

aclunorcal.org

So proud to be representing @thecoalition.bsky.social in this case, and so grateful for their courage—and their members’ courage—in standing up to fight this backwards and blatantly unconstitutional policy.

Breaking: A federal court has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing an immigration policy targeting noncitizen researchers, advocates, fact-checkers, and trust and safety workers based on their work. knightcolumbia.org/content/fede...

Federal Court Suspends Trump Immigration Policy Targeting Technology Researchers

knightcolumbia.org

We just filed this amicus brief in support of CAIR's challenge to Florida's executive order designating the organization as "terrorist." The executive order is a dangerous and unconstitutional effort to punish political speech and association. knightcolumbia.org/content/flor...

Florida Executive Order Targeting CAIR Violates First Amendment, Knight Institute Argues

knightcolumbia.org

Tech leaders, scientists, policymakers, & advocates often call transparency a foundation of public trust and fair, effective regulation. Yesterday, @thecoalition.bsky.social took an important step to ensure that transparency laws actually work #FAccT2026 independenttechresearch.org/citr-members...

We're hiring! The Knight Institute is looking for a litigator to join us for a two-year position fighting for free speech in the digital age. knightcolumbia.org/page/staff_a...

| Knight First Amendment Institute

knightcolumbia.org

In advance of this morning’s oral argument, here’s a great piece from @thecoalition.bsky.social’s @geurkink.bsky.social on the ways in which this policy is making us all dumber.

Jameel Jaffer@jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Marco Rubio is denying visas to tech researchers because free speech. (Seriously!) We sued over this idiotic and unconstitutional policy on behalf of @thecoalition.bsky.social, and tomorrow my colleague @carriedecell.bsky.social will argue the case before Judge Boasberg. www.npr.org/2026/03/09/n...

I wrote up the Comey indictment. www.popehat.com/p/the-comey-...

The Comey Threat Indictment Is A Grave Embarrassment To The United States Department of Justice And The Rule of Law

The Department of Justice Is Dead; Long Live The Department of Trump

popehat.com

Tell me again that the FBI should be able to search FISA databases for information about US persons without first obtaining a warrant based on probable cause. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/u...

So this piece that @rosehorowitch.bsky.social (and I knew her when she wrote for @yaledailynews.bsky.social) is problematic. She suggests that student protests on Gaza got out of control bringing the clamp-down on university protests. 1/ www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Where Are All the Campus Protests?

Two years ago, students occupied buildings and colonized the quad. Now the same places are strangely silent.

theatlantic.com

The Coalition for Independent Technology Research has filed a lawsuit with the @knightcolumbia.org and @protectdemocracy.org challenging a US State Department policy to revoke or deny visas of non-citizen researchers because of their work studying the societal impacts of technology. (1/4)

🚨NEWS: @knightcolumbia.org & @protectdemocracy.org just filed a lawsuit on behalf of @thecoalition.bsky.social challenging the Trump administration's policy targeting social media researchers and trust & safety workers for visa revocation and deportation. More: knightcolumbia.org/content/tech...

Technology Researchers Challenge Trump Policy Threatening Deportation for Work on Social Media Platforms and Online Harms

knightcolumbia.org

We filed an emergency petition asking the Eleventh Circuit to request a stay to stop Judge Cannon from potentially granting motions by President Trump and his co-defendants seeking the permanent suppression & destruction of Special Counsel Jack Smith's report. knightcolumbia.org/documents/z8...

Petition for Writ of Mandamus

knightcolumbia.org

Very excited about this new @knightcolumbia.org project, both because it gives us the chance to look beyond the current democratic crisis and because so many super people have already agreed to participate. knightcolumbia.org/content/new-...

New Knight Institute Initiative to Focus on “Reconstructing Free Expression” After Trump

knightcolumbia.org

Just filed: @knightcolumbia.org brief asking the Eleventh Circuit to reverse Judge Cannon and release Jack Smith’s Mar-Lago report. knightcolumbia.org/documents/v4...

"The ability of everyday citizens to hold government agents to account, by observing them and advocating for change, is what has distinguished the American experiment with democracy from authoritarian regimes around the world," says litigation director @alexabdo.bsky.social in @nbcnews.com.

David Ingram@davidingram.bsky.social · 6mo ago

FBI Director Kash Patel said Monday that he had opened an investigation into the Signal group text chats that Minnesota residents are using www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne...

As someone who edits a lot of essays (including the one by Yoel that this book incorrectly quotes) - a good cite check process should have caught this. If I’d published a piece where an error of this magnitude somehow slipped past the checker, I would feel obligated to issue a correction.

Yoel Roth@yoyoel.com · 7mo ago

A small (personal) example of this book’s intellectual dishonesty: My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media. Huh? When did I say that?!

Excellent op-ed on the Supreme Court's terrible decision in the TikTok case.

Evelyn Douek@evelyndouek.bsky.social · 8mo ago

What has happened since the Court upheld the TikTok ban makes a mockery of the gvt’s claims that TikTok was an urgent national security risk—and of the court that deferred to those claims Wrote w @jameeljaffer.bsky.social abt why TikTok should haunt the Court www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

JUST FILED: Our opposition—on behalf of the National Association of Immigration Judges—to the government's motion asking the Supreme Court to put on hold our challenge to a sweeping prior restraint on the speech of the nation's immigration judges. www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

Well worth the time to read this piece by the ACLU's Brett Max Kaufman on the Trump administration's boat strikes. Here's the kicker:

NEW:  Fourth Circuit denies the government’s request for a rehearing in our challenge to a DOJ policy silencing immigration judges. We look forward to continuing the fight for the right of immigration judges to speak on matters of urgent public interest.  knightcolumbia.org/documents/sn...

Great to finally see some collective action in rejecting a (likely unconstitutional) demand made by the Trump administration. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Media including Fox News overwhelmingly reject Pentagon press policy

Fox News, along with ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN, said that the Pentagon policy violates their “core journalistic protections.”

washingtonpost.com

This is a perilous moment for democracy in the United States, but I couldn’t be prouder of the Knight Institute’s work right now, and I don’t take for granted that we have the freedom and resources to do it. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

This free speech group at Columbia is taking on Trump when the university won’t – and winning

The Knight Institute is defending free speech at a school now synonymous with compromising on it

theguardian.com

Very proud of my colleagues right now--especially @ramyakrishnan.bsky.social and @alexabdo.bsky.social. But we could not have got this far without the superb trial lawyers at Sher Tremonte. Grateful to them for all of the time and energy they put into this case. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/u...

Judge Rules Trump Unlawfully Targeted Noncitizens Over Pro-Palestinian Speech

nytimes.com

Tomorrow night, for folks not planning to watch the Yankees/Red Sox game, the 92nd St Y has four different talks. Thomas Friedman, Malcolm Gladwell, Kate McKinnon/Penn Badgley... or *me* with Lee Rowland & @alexabdo.bsky.social! (Ours is streaming only, not in person).

Took a look at Kimmel's ouster in light of the longstanding Republican attacks on social media over jawboning, which, the Supreme Court has found, requires a direct causal line. The Kimmel case "is as direct a line as you could dream up," @alexabdo.bsky.social told me www.npr.org/2025/09/18/n...

Legal experts say pulling Jimmy Kimmel from air may amount to illegal 'jawboning'

Free speech scholars say ABC's decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show indefinitely represents "jawboning," when government officials pressure private companies to suppress speech.

npr.org

Condemning another absolutely disgraceful act of gun violence. My thoughts & prayers are w/ Charlie Kirk & his family in this terrible moment & we are all grateful for first responders who immediately jumped into action. We must categorically reject all violence in our society.

Chief Justice Roberts (2007): “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” Justice Kavanaugh (2025): ethnicity “can be a 'relevant factor' when considered along with other salient factors” in immigration stops.

The Columbia settlement is an “astonishing transfer of autonomy and authority to . . . an administration whose disdain for the values of the academy is demonstrated anew every day.” New @knightcolumbia.org analysis of the Columbia settlement, just published. knightcolumbia.org/blog/what-th...

What the Columbia Settlement Really Means

knightcolumbia.org