Transparency & Democracy
Ensuring access to information necessary for self-government
The First Amendment embraces the public’s right to access the information needed to hold the powerful accountable and participate fully in the process of self-government.
Our aim in defending and promoting transparency is not simply to compel the disclosure of information that the public is entitled to know, but to broaden public access to information through changes in government policy and the law.
Featured
Press Statement
Knight Institute Seeks Immediate Release of Special Counsel’s Report on Trump’s Mishandling of Classified Documents
Says the public has a First Amendment “right of access” to the document
LATEST NEWS & ANALYSIS
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Press Statement
Court Says White House Can’t Exclude AP From Press Pool Based on Viewpoint
Opinion is “careful, well-reasoned,” Knight Institute says
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Press Statement
Legal Organizations Across Ideologies File Amicus Brief Urging Court to Enjoin Executive Order Targeting Perkins Coie
The order targets Perkins Coie for its past voting rights litigation
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Press Statement
Knight Institute Asks Court to Block Trump Policy of Deporting Students and Faculty for Lawful Speech
AAUP and Middle East Studies Association say policy clearly violates the First Amendment
LITIGATION & ADVOCACY
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Amicus Brief
Perkins Coie LLP v. DOJ
A challenge to President Trump’s executive order targeting the Perkins Coie law firm.
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Lawsuit
Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York v. USDA
A case challenging USDA’s purge of climate-related webpages.
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Lawsuit
United States v. Trump
A motion to intervene in Trump classified documents case seeking release of Volume II of Special Counsel’s report.
RESEARCH
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Essays and Scholarship
What Will Remain for People to Do?
The future of labor in a world with increasingly productive AI
By Daniel Susskind -
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Deep Dive : Student Protests, Title VI, and the First Amendment
Title VI as a Jawbone
The fact that Title VI has come to possess such importance when it comes to regulating protest and political expression on campus raises significant First Amendment questions
By Evelyn Douek & Genevieve Lakier
Events
Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY
On the Skirmish Line
A panel discussion on the evolving climate for protest coverage
Civic Hall and Online
The Future of Press Freedom: Democracy, Law, and the News in Changing Times
A symposium examining what it means to safeguard and support the role of the press in the United States today.
Columbia University and Online
Permission to Speak Freely? Managing Government Employee Speech in a Democracy
A symposium examining the speech rights of public employees—and the threats they face