The recently released intelligence report concludes that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince was likely responsible for the journalist’s murder. That can’t be the end of the story.

The case against Assange poses a major threat to press freedom

How the Biden administration can reaffirm the freedoms of speech, association, and petition in its first 100 days

Drawing the line around what is protected by the First Amendment is more challenging than you might think

Sanctions raise First Amendment concerns

Jameel Jaffer highlights press freedom concerns in his testimony in Assange extradition proceeding 

How GPT-3 and A.I. language models could bolster censorship online

The U.S. Department of Justice has targeted the nation’s immigration judges in a coordinated campaign to prevent them from contributing to the ongoing and important public dialogue on immigration. Recently, in response, the union representing immigration judges nationwide filed a...

Protecting your data, technology, and First Amendment rights at a protest

Discussing the intersection of data privacy and the First Amendment

Underscore the civil liberties implications of the intrusive surveillance program

Executive order aimed at regulating social media is a profoundly dangerous attempt to punish Twitter for its speech

Disclosure, not secrecy, should be the norm for OLC opinions

The ruling is troubling and a step in the wrong direction

A new European contact-tracing tool looks promising 

Appeals court protects public’s right to read and respond to official social media accounts, at a time when we rely on them most

Provides crucial safeguards for reporters

Policy prevents judges from speaking out without prior approval

Tips for protecting an individual’s right to participate in digital town halls

Excerpt from an essay by the Institute's writer-in-residence published in The Atlantic

Includes correspondence in which former senior officials pressure agencies reviewing their manuscripts

Understanding the rules that govern public discourse online

How Bolton could publicly share his story

A New York Times op-ed by Jameel Jaffer and Ramya Krishnan on the dangers of prepublication review

Government censorship system could block Bolton's memoir

Consequential documents remain in the dark 

A new lawsuit could help stop the surveillance of 14 million people a year who visit the US. The courts must put an end to overreach. 

Since May, the State Department has required almost everyone applying for a U.S. visa—more than 14 million people each year—to register every social media handle they’ve used over the past five years on any of 20 platforms, including Facebook, Instagram,...

Policy infringes on filmmakers' freedom of expression and interferes with Americans' ability to engage with diverse international thinkers 

Some Thoughts about Mark Zuckerberg’s Remarks at Georgetown University

When the Supreme Court and lower courts interpret the Constitution and laws, their decrees are public, accessible and subject to debate. In some instances, if an interpretation of the law doesn’t sit well with the public, Congress can respond by...

For more than three years, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University have been litigating a series of Freedom of Information Act requests relating to “prepublication review.” Under this far-reaching censorship system, millions...

Historian explains why OLC opinions are legal building blocks for the past, present, and future

Unless agents are required to get a warrant, the ‘border exception’ will be a window into the private lives of Americans and a means of stifling dissent

The government’s now-routine use of the Espionage Act against journalists’ sources raises First Amendment concerns.

With its latest leak indictment last week, the Department of Justice under Donald Trump is now on pace to break the previous record for prosecutions of journalists’ sources, just two and a half years into its administration. A new report...

Documents released through FOIA litigation raise new questions about how intelligence agencies handled intercepted threats

Knight Institute lawsuit seeking records on the government's extreme vetting program produces only heavily redacted records and little information on the program

The indictment characterizes as “part of” a criminal conspiracy journalistic activities that are not just lawful but essential to press freedom

Thousands of documents obtained through FOIA show that prepublication review is a tangled mess

Prepublication review of the writings of current and former federal employees violates their First Amendment rights.

Lawsuit argues government’s process for reviewing writings by millions of former government employees violates First Amendment

The seven plaintiffs in Knight Institute v. Trump share how they feel about being blocked on Twitter by the President of the United States

Agencies release redacted documents relating to "duty to warn" procedures, but refuse to say whether they considered warning Khashoggi

Amicus brief from Knight Institute, Reporters Committee, and ACLU stresses safeguards for publishing information of public concern

ODNI "Glomars" request for documents on journalist's murder, neither confirming nor denying that documents exist

The Supreme Court's decision in Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck could affect protections against censorship on online public forums

Knight Senior Staff Attorney Katie Fallow and intern Ella Epstein comment on Davison v. Randall in MediaLawLetter

It's imperative to know what U.S. intelligence agences knew about threats to journalist's life, and whether they took any steps to warn him

Revoking CNN's White House credentials undercuts role of the press as representatives of the people

Appeals court considers if federal immigration officers can retaliate against immigrant activists who exercise their First Amendment rights

In 2018 Or’ Emet Lecture, Jameel Jaffer assesses whether the law should afford special protection to journalism and research investigating social media platforms

Records suggest U.S. government is using FISA court orders to monitor journalists

Social media platforms should lift restrictions impeding digital journalism and research

New DOJ disclosure on surveillance of the press provides little assurance on journalists' ability to protect confidential sources

In recent lawsuits, including Knight Institute v. Trump, the administration has advanced the troubling claim that courts cannot order the president to follow the Constitution

By turning away foreign activists, American authorities are masquerading censorship as immigration enforcement

James Comey's blockbuster memoir sailed through the byzantine world of prepublication review. But for other public servants, publishing their stories can be frustrating and discouraging

A ruling by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review allows Knight Institute to press for access to secret court opinions on mass surveillance programs

At the heart of Knight Institute's Trump Twitter lawsuit is the principle that every citizen has a right to speak and be heard

Twitter is a novel means for presidential communication, but the problem of government officials limiting and manipulating political speech is all too familiar

Newly produced travelers' complaints underscore the intrusiveness of electronic device searches

New directive on border searches of phones fails to resolve constitutional problems and raises new concerns

Traveler complaints reveal a range of discriminatory, demeaning, and gratuitously intrusive searches

Carpenter v. United States could have drastic implications for First Amendment freedoms in the digital age

Knight Institute Executive Director Jameel Jaffer's speech to the 2017 ACLU biennial leadership conference

A country where speaking one’s mind always results in death threats is not a country that can be said to be truly free

Modern surveillance threatens not only individual privacy but also the freedom to dissent. We shouldn't expect the Fourth Amendment to adequately protect First Amendment interests

Knight Institute executive director Jameel Jaffer will deliver the annual Salant Lecture on Freedom of the Press at Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy. The lecture, established by the estate of Frank Stanton, former president of...

Laptop and phone searches may be infringing on the freedoms of speech and press more than we realize. 

Forthcoming book by former NCIS agent on how America used torture as a weapon of war may be heavily redacted—or never released

The public is entitled to know what the law is, not just what the Office of Legal Counsel wants it to know

Answers to questions about the Knight Institute's position that President Trump cannot block critics on his @realDonaldTrump Twitter account

The Trump administration's proposed vetting of social-media accounts at the border threatens First Amendment values and the very idea of open society

Reports of device searches at the border suggests government is expanding an unconstitutional program