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...
13.02.2026 23:13 — 👍 14 🔁 9 💬 1 📌 0
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-...
11.02.2026 17:25 — 👍 217 🔁 70 💬 11 📌 16
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...
09.02.2026 23:08 — 👍 438 🔁 119 💬 4 📌 6"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.
27.01.2026 20:17 — 👍 39 🔁 16 💬 3 📌 1As 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.
24.12.2025 22:35 — 👍 21 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0Excellent op-ed on the Supreme Court's terrible decision in the TikTok case.
15.12.2025 17:14 — 👍 8 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1
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...
The problem is, and always has been, that playing with executive power is a dangerous game, and its consequences are hard and perhaps impossible to contain. If critics of the Trump boat strikes truly want to usher in a new era of respect for the rule of law, they must acknowledge that, in the shadow of the mounting democratic menace that Trump’s entire second administration represents, the legal process that yielded these strikes should not be seen as an aberration from the last quarter century of always-secret and often-unreviewable executive-branch legal reasoning, but the apotheosis of it.
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...
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...
11.10.2025 11:27 — 👍 402 🔁 110 💬 4 📌 4
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...
30.09.2025 22:28 — 👍 464 🔁 92 💬 2 📌 3
92nd St. Y schedule for tomorrow night: Thomas Friedman in Conversation with Ambassador Dennis Ross: Israel, The Middle East, and the Future of Diplomacy at 6pm ET Shadowbanned & Shut Down: Censorship in the Digital Public Square Mike Masnick, Lee Rowland, and Alex Abdo with Thane Rosenbaum at 7pm ET Malcolm Gladwell in Conversation with Benjamin Naddaff-Hafrey: Revenge of the Tipping Point at 7:30pm ET An Evening with Kate McKinnon and Penn Badgley: The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science — Secrets of the Purple Pearl at 8pm ET
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).
29.09.2025 17:57 — 👍 44 🔁 6 💬 4 📌 0
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...
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.
Quoting from Justice Roberts in a recent decision
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...
04.08.2025 14:20 — 👍 494 🔁 226 💬 13 📌 21
On our site, you can also see some of the statements we've issued relating to Columbia's handling of student protests. Here's one, for example:
knightcolumbia.org/blog/knight-...
bsky.app/profile/alex...
29.07.2025 22:17 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Fall 2026 ... sorry!
29.07.2025 17:48 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Recent law grads — we're now hiring for legal fellows to begin in Fall 2025. Our First Amendment rights are under daily assault. I hope you'll consider applying to work with us at @knightcolumbia.org to push back.
knightcolumbia.org/page/legal-f...
JUST IN: the Ninth Circuit has revived the @elfaroenglish.bsky.social case against NSO Group. Congrats to my @knightcolumbia.org colleague @carriedecell.bsky.social, who argued the appeal, and to our co-counsel at Selendy Gay. Statement coming shortly. knightcolumbia.org/documents/1x...
08.07.2025 17:45 — 👍 11 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 1Enjoyed this conversation with @cristianfarias.com about our upcoming trial — starting July 7 — in our suit challenging the Trump administration's policy of deporting students and scholars based on their pro-Palestinian expression.
01.07.2025 21:26 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
This amicus brief by @ccrjustice.org and Palestine Legal rightly points out that Title VI does not—and could not constitutionally—require universities to suppress criticism of Israel's policies.
static1.squarespace.com/static/54874...
In response to a lawsuit filed by @knightcolumbia.org and @earthjustice.org, the USDA is restoring climate-related webpages that it had purged.
Great news for the farmers and advocates we represent.
apnews.com/article/usda...
We're hiring! If you're eager to work at the ACLU on issues where civil liberties and national security meet, we're hiring for an attorney position.
And help us spread the word!
www.aclu.org/careers/appl...
We're based at Columbia, but we're a separate c3. You can see our docket here: knightcolumbia.org/litigation/
Including cases like this one, challenging the Trump administration's deportation of students on the basis of speech:
knightcolumbia.org/cases/aaup-v...
The position is based in New York.
07.05.2025 23:59 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
NEW JOB: The Knight Institute (@knightcolumbia.org) is looking for a staff attorney to join us for a two-year position. It's an extremely busy time for the First Amendment, and we could use some more hands on deck!
knightcolumbia.org/page/staff_a...
In a really important passage, the judge rejects the relevance of the Second Red Scare precedents that the govt is relying upon, and affirms the significance of the 1A interests at stake here. The opinion makes clear how egregious the govt's actions have been.
29.04.2025 19:50 — 👍 375 🔁 120 💬 1 📌 2