Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University

If you’re looking for a thoughtful listen this weekend, the Knight Institute’s podcast “Lawyering Without Law” is worth adding to your queue. It explores the role that lawyers can play in defending democratic institutions and freedoms against authoritarian attacks. Hosted by the Institute’s Research Director Katherine Glenn Bass and Columbia Law School Professor Madhav Khosla, the six-part series features conversations with Kim Lane Scheppele, Lawrence Lessig, Deborah Pearlstein, Alberto Mora, David Dyzenhaus, Jan-Werner Müller, Tom Dannenbaum, and Asli Bali. Listen: https://lnkd.in/eVZgEc3j

The Trump administration tried to use visa denials and deportation to silence researchers who study social media. A court just said no. Sunday Tagliasacchi and Elisabeth Snyder, former legal externs at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, break down the CITR v. Rubio ruling. https://lnkd.in/eTm_8kpT

In the Knight Institute’s latest newsletter, read about "The Forever War and the First Amendment." The two-day symposium, co-hosted with Columbia University’s Li Center for Global Journalism, will take place September 9 and 10. The event will bring together journalists, scholars, artists, advocates, and public officials to examine how the “war on terror” has reshaped free speech, press freedom, surveillance, and democratic life over the past 25 years. Read the full newsletter to learn more about the event and other Institute updates.

Government science depends on rigorous scrutiny, independent review, and the freedom to dissent. But political interference can undermine all three. In the latest essay in the Knight Institute's Reconstructing Free Expression series, Wendy Wagner of The University of Texas School of Law argues that this vulnerability is structural. She calls for independent peer review and formal protections for scientific dissent to make agency research and decision-making more transparent, accountable, and resistant to political manipulation. Read the essay: https://lnkd.in/g7hcu9w9

The Knight Institute has joined the ACLU, the National Coalition Against Censorship, and The Future of Free Speech in urging the FCC to end early license-renewal proceedings against eight Disney-owned ABC stations. The groups argue that the proceedings, initiated years ahead of schedule following President Trump’s criticism of Jimmy Kimmel, amount to unconstitutional jawboning. “These proceedings turn the FCC’s licensing authority into a tool for dictating which voices and viewpoints broadcasters carry,” said Ryan Morgan, a policy fellow at the Knight Institute. “That’s precisely the kind of government coercion the First Amendment forbids.” Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gwU9g7TR

The Knight Institute has asked the Eleventh Circuit to reverse Judge Cannon’s orders suppressing Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on President Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and direct that a redacted version be made public. “Every day that the report stays under seal deprives the American public of the information necessary to judge for themselves the character and fitness of the nation’s highest official,” said Scott Wilkens, senior counsel at the Knight Institute. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gKhdgx2x

The Trump administration tried to use visa denials and deportation to silence researchers who study social media. A court just said no. Sunday Tagliasacchi and Elisabeth Snyder, former legal externs at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, break down the CITR v. Rubio ruling. https://lnkd.in/eTm_8kpT

A federal court recently suspended a Trump administration policy that threatened noncitizen technology researchers and advocates with immigration consequences based on their work. In a new piece for Tech Policy Press, former Knight Institute legal externs Sunday Tagliasacchi and Elisabeth Snyder explain how the policy chilled independent research and why the court’s ruling is an important check on the government’s efforts to punish people for their views. Read the piece: https://lnkd.in/gw3m77_i

The Knight First Amendment Institute has joined legal organizations across the ideological spectrum in urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to uphold a ruling blocking the Trump administration’s unconstitutional attacks on Harvard University. The administration withheld billions of dollars in federal research funding after Harvard refused demands that would have allowed the government to exert ideological control over the university’s admissions, hiring, academic programs, and research. “The Trump administration’s attacks on universities are attacks on democracy itself,” said Alex Abdo, litigation director at the Knight Institute. “Universities are the stewards of society’s search for basic knowledge, and the government should not be dictating what courses may be taught, what ideas may be explored, and which students may be admitted to learn.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/g6EJTBuy

📣 Are you a journalist who uses FOIA or other public records laws in your reporting? You could win $25K with our new journalism award, the Penlight Prize. Submission deadline: Sept. 1, 2026 Learn more and apply: https://lnkd.in/gudZgC6K