This podcast series is part of @knightcolumbia.org's project on lawyering in an age of authoritarianism. If you're a lawyer, want to be a lawyer, or care about the rule of law, please listen to it and send it to all of your friends. It's really good. knightcolumbia.org/content/lawy...

Two of three judges on this DC Circuit panel seem inclined to hold that the government can't imprison Senator Kelly for repeating lessons he learned at West Point. Judge Karen Henderson apparently not convinced. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/u...

Our continuing effort to get the Eleventh Circuit to consider whether the public has a right to see Jack Smith's report documenting Trump's hoarding of classified docs at Mar-a-Lago. lawandcrime.com/high-profile...

"They champion me for my humanitarian views and now they’re canceling me for them" www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Thanks to @columbiaspec.bsky.social for this write-up on @knightcolumbia.org’s origins and work, almost ten years in. Very proud of what we’ve built! www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2026/05...

I’ll be damned. The Pulitzer board did it. Good on them

If you're okay with everything in this speech except for the line about Gaza, as U-M's president seems to be, you're not advocating for "neutrality"--you're exploiting the rhetoric of neutrality to suppress ideas you don't like.

"What Does Legal Authoritarianism Look Like?" -- first episode in @knightcolumbia.org's podcast series examining the legal profession in an era of authoritarianism features Princeton's Kim Lane Scheppele in conversation with @katygb.bsky.social and Madhav Khosla. knightcolumbia.org/content/lawy...

Read ISP Executive Director @chinmayiarun.bsky.social's new article, published by the @knightcolumbia.org: "The Right to Access Foreign Communicative Infrastructure" knightcolumbia.org/content/the-...

Hindus for Human Rights, Jewish Currents & 1804 Books invite you to an evening with legendary graphic journalist Joe Sacco at People’s Forum NYC, Wed. May 13, 6:30–9 PM. On Hindu nationalism, anti-Muslim mob violence in India, Palestine & war. RSVP/Tix: secure.everyaction.com/mm8vq_U5xE-O...

By gutting the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court is killing the Second Reconstruction. The first Reconstruction shows how Congress should respond. Me and Daphna Renan in the NYT on the tools we have to save democracy from a hostile Court.

In a new essay, @chinmayiarun.bsky.social (@yaleisp.bsky.social) argues that foreign social media platforms are unique associational and speech infrastructures that should be treated differently from other foreign infrastructure, challenging the Supreme Court's view in #TikTok Inc. v. Garland.

In which Judge Dale Ho (SDNY) categorically rejects the arguments that the Solicitor General was pressing SCOTUS to accept earlier this week. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Good on Wyden for securing this agreement, but whether a FISA court opinion will be published shouldn't be a matter of negotiation between the political branches. The First Amendment guarantees the public a right of access to judicial opinions. The FISA court should have published this one already.

Some advice for Disney and ABC—written last year, but holds up, IMHO. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/o...

No sugar-coating the Court’s decision today. Real talk. @allinwithchris.bsky.social

The practical result of adding the sum rev from yesterday to today's decision in Callais seems to be that use of race in partisan gerrymandering is permitted (because hard to prove it was race, not politics) *unless* the state is doing it to remedy a VRA violation. This is Bizarro 14th Amendment.

Students from abroad used to come to here because we respected the freedoms of speech, association, and inquiry. Now they’re not coming here because we don’t. It’s really as simple as that. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/w...

Great piece. What was the original public meaning of the 14th Amendment? Let’s ask the public!

The only post you need to read about the Comey indictment is this one from @kenwhite.bsky.social. www.popehat.com/p/the-comey-...

Trump is trying to consolidate his control over what we see and hear on the radio, television, and social media. If he wins, we'll have only Trump-aligned media orgs that broadcast Trump-approved news and Trump-approved late-night shows with Trump-approved monologues. That's what's at stake here.

Kash Patel's lawyers think The Atlantic should have treated Patel's denials as conclusive--which, as @fabiobertoni.bsky.social writes, suggests they don't understand journalism or the First Amendment. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

This is really good. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/27/o...

It's true that "critics" say this, but multiple federal judges have said it, too, including Judge William Young, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan four decades ago, who reached this conclusion after a nine-day bench trial in @aaup.org v. Rubio. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/u...

Important PSA here

When Democrats are in the House majority, we will do real oversight of all illegal strikes, get justice for survivors and those who were killed, and establish guardrails to ensure adherence to international law.

NYPD-delineated no-protest zones would prohibit or chill constitutionally protected advocacy. Thanks to @mayor.nyc.gov for standing up for the First Amendment. knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...

Revoking kids' visas because their parents criticized Elon Musk.

This wild document is the basis for the State Department's decision to cancel the visas and green cards of tech researchers who study the social media platforms and of tech regulators who enforce privacy and transparency laws. Disclosed to us last night in @thecoalition.bsky.social v. Rubio.

Lots of canceling by devotees of self-styled free speech warrior Charlie Kirk

Cuba should be democratic and free, says US admin that shoots protesters, deports students for dissent, surveils journalists, threatens news orgs for critical reporting, defunds universities for teaching about slavery, wants to imprison its political enemies, and is trying to rig upcoming elections

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...

National news orgs are perplexed that campuses are quieter this year. The NYT ran an opinion piece a few days ago blaming social media and artificial intelligence. (Really.) Here's some actual reporting from @yaledailynews.bsky.social. yaledailynews.com/articles/two...

There's no legal basis for these boat strikes, and US officials involved in them should be prosecuted for attempted murder and murder. The OLC memo green-lighting the strikes is still secret, but there's nothing it could say that would make these strikes lawful. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

The @nyclu.org has also criticized these bills as "an attack on free speech and a surefire way to stifle constitutionally protected, peaceful political protest." @mayor.nyc.gov could veto the one relating to educational institutions, and he should. www.nyclu.org/press-releas...

This is even dumber than it is unconstitutional, and it is very unconstitutional. www.newsweek.com/what-is-the-...

NYC City Council passed bills that would chill and even criminalize constitutionally protected protest near religious and educational facilities. The bill relating to religious facilities is veto-proof, but @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social should veto the other. knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...

Very honored to receive this recognition for my work and for the work of all of my colleagues at @knightcolumbia.org. Thanks to @sidneyhillman.bsky.social and congratulations to all of the journalists being awarded Hillman Prizes as well. hillmanfoundation.org/george-barre...

The legendary pianist Andras Schiff on his refusal to perform in the United States while Trump is in power. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/a...

Seems like a lot. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

These new social-media-disclosure requirements are amped up, digital-age versions of thought-control policies that embarrassed the United States and obstructed the free exchange of ideas during the Cold War. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

“That Rümeysa felt she had to return to Turkey to escape the shadow of state violence says everything you need to know about the state of free speech and academic freedom in this country,” said Ramya Krishnan, an attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/17/m...

Nominally independent media institutions celebrating press freedom by serving canapés to president fake news is some bleak, black comedy but the venue is chef’s kiss

One strong piece of evidence for this thesis is that this brief historical account stops where it does. president.yale.edu/sites/defaul...

I find it difficult to believe that distrust in universities is more traceable to grade inflation and high tuition than to deliberate, sustained, bad faith attacks from the authoritarian right. president.yale.edu/sites/defaul...

Trump, Vance, Rufo, Stefanik, Ackman, Rowan and everything they represent--none of this even makes the cut? Grade inflation is a bigger problem than authoritarianism? president.yale.edu/sites/defaul...

This was seventeen years ago today. Can’t help wondering how different things would be now if rhe architects of the torture program had been held accountable in some way rather than honored and appointed to more presigious posts. www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/u...

It's a huge problem that FISA authorizes Kash Patel to read Americans' emails without a warrant, but I'm deleting my previous post because the amendment I highlighted doesn't actually fix the problem. Here's a good post from @lizagoitein.bsky.social about it. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

We've come a long way from "those who are willing to trade their liberty for security will soon end up with neither."

Hey NYC 👋 Join us on Monday, April 20 at Kennedys in Manhattan to chat about Privacy's Defender, a new book by EFF's Executive Director Cindy Cohn. RSVP today! eff.org/PDwithWISPNYC