Carrie DeCell

The Trump administration is set to expand social media vetting of visa applicants. The policy has done little for national security, says @jameeljaffer.bsky.social, but "it is very effective at chilling free speech."

A federal judge just ruled that our case seeking to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty who participate in pro-Palestinian protests can go forward. Read our statement: knightcolumbia.org/content/fede...

American Association of University Professors v. Rubio

My @knightcolumbia.org colleague Ramya Krishnan will be in court in Boston this Wednesday arguing on behalf of @aaup.bsky.social & @mesa1966.bsky.social in their challenge to the Trump admin's ideological-deportation policy.

This is the case: knightcolumbia.org/cases/aaup-v...

Yesterday, we filed an amicus brief w/ @aclu.org & 9 other legal organizations asking the court to strike down Trump's executive order placing sanctions on the law firm Perkins Coie for its work on voting rights & for representing Trump's prior political opponents. knightcolumbia.org/content/lega...

It’s sad that it requires courage right now for a university president to file something as straightforward as this, but it does. Thanks to Tufts University President Sunil Kumar for filing this. www.tufts.edu/president/sp...

The Knight Institute (@knightcolumbia.org) joined a cross-ideological amicus brief led by the @aclu.org, in arguing that President Trump's executive order targeting Perkins Coie LLP is unconstitutional.

knightcolumbia.org/cases/perkin...

Powerful op-ed from Profs. Maya Jasanoff and @kirstenweld.bsky.social. They are members of AAUP-Harvard, one of the groups challenging the Trump admin's policy of targeting noncitizen students and faculty for deportation based on their pro-Palestinian advocacy.

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

As a Jenner alum, I could not be prouder of this firm today.

AAUP, Middle East Studies Association, Knight Institute Sue Over Trump Policy of Arresting and Threatening to Deport Students and Faculty for Lawful Speech

This morning, the Knight Institute filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s policy of arresting, detaining, and deporting noncitizen students and faculty who participate in pro-Palestinian activism. knightcolumbia.org/content/aaup...

This morning, FACULTY UNIONS led by @aaup.bsky.social sued the Trump administration over the unlawful funding cuts at Columbia. We will not let the federal government use coercion to rob us of academic freedom and critical research!

So proud of my union!

protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/u...

An Update on COVID-19 University Guidance Updated COVID-19 guidance for the Columbia community.

And also: "Masking: Individuals may decide to mask based on their own circumstances and their preferences. Such decisions should be respected."

news.columbia.edu/news/update-...

| Knight First Amendment Institute

There's a lot of work to do. We're hiring another Legal Fellow to start ASAP. Please send the best people our way. @knightcolumbia.org knightcolumbia.org/page/legal-f...

Arresting and threatening to deport students because of their participation in political protest is the kind of action one ordinarily associates with the world’s most repressive regimes. It’s genuinely shocking that this appears to be what’s going on right here. 1/

As reported here by @telliotter.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/rights... grantees of the US govt are being told they must comply with the govt's anti-DEI purge for all of their programs, even those not funded by the USG. If you are such an NGO, I'd love to talk to you. For Contact my info: eff.org

Letter to House Speaker Johnson (3/6/2025)

Today, we sent a letter to Johnson reminding him that the First Amendment does not tolerate discrimination on the basis of viewpoint by government officials and that they cannot block critics at public forums, in-person or online. Read the letter: knightcolumbia.org/documents/t1...

So when public comments open, tell USCIS you oppose the Trump admin’s latest efforts to surveil speech on social media.

A Promising First Step Towards Curtailing Social Media Surveillance

And the Biden admin rejected a previous DHS proposal to extend those requirements because the agency had failed to “adequately demonstrate the practical utility of collecting this information.”

knightcolumbia.org/blog/a-promi...

It’s time for Biden to stop the mass collection of travelers’ social media information

And all for what? The Biden admin held onto the State Dep’t requirements despite internal views that they added “no value” to visa vetting efforts.

knightcolumbia.org/blog/its-tim...

Because it would apply to even more people who already live in the United States—including people applying for citizenship—the USCIS proposal is even more clearly unconstitutional than its State Dep’t predecessor.

A New U.S. Visa Requirement is Silencing Foreign Filmmakers

Social media disclosure requirements deny the rights of anonymous speech and private association, and they chill the exercise of free speech and free association more broadly.

knightcolumbia.org/content/opin...

Doc Society v. Blinken: Challenging the State Department’s Social Media Registration Requirement

We sued on behalf of Doc Society and the International Documentary Association back then, arguing that the social media disclosure requirements violated the First Amendment and the APA.

knightcolumbia.org/blog/doc-soc...

USCIS is proposing to extend social media disclosure requirements adopted by the State Dep’t in 2019 to millions more applicants for immigration benefits each year:

public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-03492.pdf

Re: the FTC and the platforms

We *should* be concerned about platform power over speech, but it isn’t censorship.

As the Supreme Court said last year, the companies’ editorial decisions to moderate content are protected by the First Amendment.

1/

Listeners’ Rights in the Time of Propaganda: The Story of Lamont v. Postmaster General

New @knightcolumbia.org essay: Americans’ broad rights to access media of their choosing are due in part to a Cold War case, Lamont v Postmaster General. @georgewang.bsky.social shows why a fight about communist snail mail is so relevant in the age of social media. knightcolumbia.org/content/list...

So I’ll say it again: Deporting non-citizens on the basis of their political speech is unconstitutional.

ICE Acknowledges First Amendment Limits on Its Power to Remove Foreign Nationals

Former Knight Institute fellow Alexia Ramirez unpacks the memos and their First Amendment analysis here: knightcolumbia.org/blog/ice-ack...

But as lawyers from Trump’s first term concluded, while the government may be able to keep people out of the country on those grounds, it can’t necessarily kick people out of the country on those grounds—at least without raising serious First Amendment concerns.

Inadmissibility grounds include “endors[ing] or espous[ing] terrorist activity” or “support[ing] a terrorist organization." And the Trump admin may well equate pro-Palestinian protest activity with supporting terrorism.

(Delayed) Update: On student visas, Trump's E.O. doesn’t go as far as initially suggested—it doesn’t directly order any deportations. Instead, it tells agencies to “familiarize” universities with inadmissibility grounds, so they can report student activities that may lead to removal.

Those government lawyers were right. Deporting non-citizens on the basis of their political speech is unconstitutional.