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Alex Abdo

@alexabdo.bsky.social
12K followers 346 following 146 posts

Litigation Director, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University (he/him)

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Reposted by Alex Abdo
Knight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · 24/08/2026
“The Trump admin has used its immigration authority in shocking and unprecedented ways to target Mr. Khalil and other pro-Palestinian advocates ... and it has done so precisely to terrify others into silence and stifle dissent,” @georgewang.bsky.social knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...
knightcolumbia.org
Knight Institute Urges Appeals Court to End Mahmoud Khalil’s Deportation Proceedings
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Reposted by Alex Abdo
Just Security @justsecurity.org · 18/08/2026
"Social media disclosure requirements implicate fundamental First Amendment rights, and the public has a right to know why they were implemented." Nicola Morrow on @knightcolumbia.org's new FOIA lawsuit, filed today:
justsecurity.org
The Government’s Unexplained Reversal on Social Media Disclosure Requirements
Social media disclosure requirements implicate fundamental First Amendment rights, and the public has a right to know why they were implemented.
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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
This September will mark 25 years since 9/11 and the inauguration of the “war on terror.” On Sept 9 & 10, join @knightcolumbia.org and the Li Center at @columbiajournalism.bsky.social for a major symposium about the war on terror’s legacy for democratic freedom. 1/ knightcolumbia.org/events/the-f...
knightcolumbia.org
The Forever War and the First Amendment
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Jake Snow @snowjake.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
COME WORK at the ACLU! @aclu-norcal.bsky.social is hiring attorneys to work on tech and civil rights (my team) and the criminal legal/immigration system. These folks will work at the cutting edge of legal and policy efforts in California and beyond. Apply here: www.aclunorcal.org/jobs/staff-a...
aclunorcal.org
Staff Attorney / Senior Staff Attorney - ACLU of Northern California
Develop and carry out litigation and policy advocacy to advance to protect and defend civil rights and civil liberties for all Californians.
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Carrie DeCell @carriedecell.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
So proud to be representing @thecoalition.bsky.social in this case, and so grateful for their courage—and their members’ courage—in standing up to fight this backwards and blatantly unconstitutional policy.
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Reposted by Alex Abdo
Knight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · 14/07/2026
Breaking: A federal court has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing an immigration policy targeting noncitizen researchers, advocates, fact-checkers, and trust and safety workers based on their work. knightcolumbia.org/content/fede...
knightcolumbia.org
Federal Court Suspends Trump Immigration Policy Targeting Technology Researchers
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
We just filed this amicus brief in support of CAIR's challenge to Florida's executive order designating the organization as "terrorist." The executive order is a dangerous and unconstitutional effort to punish political speech and association. knightcolumbia.org/content/flor...
knightcolumbia.org
Florida Executive Order Targeting CAIR Violates First Amendment, Knight Institute Argues
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Reposted by Alex Abdo
J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Tech leaders, scientists, policymakers, & advocates often call transparency a foundation of public trust and fair, effective regulation. Yesterday, @thecoalition.bsky.social took an important step to ensure that transparency laws actually work #FAccT2026 independenttechresearch.org/citr-members...
independenttechresearch.org
CITR Members Intervene in DSA Court Case to uphold Data Access for Public Interest Research - Coalition for Independent Technology Research
Members of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research today requested leave to intervene in X v. European Commission. X’s Digital Services Act violations have prevented researchers from using p...
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
We're hiring! The Knight Institute is looking for a litigator to join us for a two-year position fighting for free speech in the digital age. knightcolumbia.org/page/staff_a...
knightcolumbia.org
| Knight First Amendment Institute
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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
In advance of this morning’s oral argument, here’s a great piece from @thecoalition.bsky.social’s @geurkink.bsky.social on the ways in which this policy is making us all dumber.
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Reposted by Alex Abdo
Popehat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
I wrote up the Comey indictment. www.popehat.com/p/the-comey-...
popehat.com
The Comey Threat Indictment Is A Grave Embarrassment To The United States Department of Justice And The Rule of Law
The Department of Justice Is Dead; Long Live The Department of Trump
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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
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...
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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
So this piece that @rosehorowitch.bsky.social (and I knew her when she wrote for @yaledailynews.bsky.social) is problematic. She suggests that student protests on Gaza got out of control bringing the clamp-down on university protests. 1/ www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
theatlantic.com
Where Are All the Campus Protests?
Two years ago, students occupied buildings and colonized the quad. Now the same places are strangely silent.
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The Coalition for Independent Technology Research @thecoalition.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
The Coalition for Independent Technology Research has filed a lawsuit with the @knightcolumbia.org and @protectdemocracy.org challenging a US State Department policy to revoke or deny visas of non-citizen researchers because of their work studying the societal impacts of technology. (1/4)
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Knight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · 09/03/2026
🚨NEWS: @knightcolumbia.org & @protectdemocracy.org just filed a lawsuit on behalf of @thecoalition.bsky.social challenging the Trump administration's policy targeting social media researchers and trust & safety workers for visa revocation and deportation. More: knightcolumbia.org/content/tech...
knightcolumbia.org
Technology Researchers Challenge Trump Policy Threatening Deportation for Work on Social Media Platforms and Online Harms
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Reposted by Alex Abdo
Knight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · 13/02/2026
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...
knightcolumbia.org
Petition for Writ of Mandamus
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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
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-...
knightcolumbia.org
New Knight Institute Initiative to Focus on “Reconstructing Free Expression” After Trump
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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
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...
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Reposted by Alex Abdo
Knight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · 27/01/2026
"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.
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Katy Glenn Bass @katygb.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
As 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.
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Excellent op-ed on the Supreme Court's terrible decision in the TikTok case.
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
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...
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
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:
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.
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Reposted by Alex Abdo
Knight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · 20/11/2025
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...
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Great to finally see some collective action in rejecting a (likely unconstitutional) demand made by the Trump administration. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
washingtonpost.com
Media including Fox News overwhelmingly reject Pentagon press policy
Fox News, along with ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN, said that the Pentagon policy violates their “core journalistic protections.”
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Reposted by Alex Abdo
Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
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...
theguardian.com
This free speech group at Columbia is taking on Trump when the university won’t – and winning
The Knight Institute is defending free speech at a school now synonymous with compromising on it
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Reposted by Alex Abdo
Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
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...
nytimes.com
Judge Rules Trump Unlawfully Targeted Noncitizens Over Pro-Palestinian Speech
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Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 29/09/2025
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).
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
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Bobby Allyn @bobbyallyn.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
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...
npr.org
Legal experts say pulling Jimmy Kimmel from air may amount to illegal 'jawboning'
Free speech scholars say ABC's decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show indefinitely represents "jawboning," when government officials pressure private companies to suppress speech.
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Rep. Jamie Raskin @raskin.house.gov · 10/09/2025
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.
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
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.
Quoting from Justice Roberts in a recent decision
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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
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...
knightcolumbia.org
What the Columbia Settlement Really Means
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
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...
knightcolumbia.org
| Knight First Amendment Institute
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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
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...
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Enjoyed 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.
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
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...
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
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...
apnews.com
Facing lawsuit, USDA says it will restore climate change-related webpages
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has agreed to restore webpages related to climate change after it was sued earlier this year over the deletions.
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Patrick Toomey @pct3.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
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...
aclu.org
Careers at ACLU
Join our team! We’re looking for committed, passionate people for open roles at the ACLU.
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
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...
knightcolumbia.org
| Knight First Amendment Institute
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Genevieve Lakier @genevievelakier.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
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.
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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Federal court says First Amendment bars government from arresting, deporting foreign students on basis of pro-Palestine advocacy. Important ruling from Judge Young just now in case brought by @aaup.bsky.social @mesa1966.bsky.social @knightcolumbia.org. knightcolumbia.org/content/fede...
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Free speech is under grave assault, and it’s not obvious how to push back in a way that will be effective. Looking forward to discussing that question at tomorrow’s panel.
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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
I feel like we need to keep saying this because it’s so insane: This is a legal U.S. resident who has been detained for over a month now for his political opinions.
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Excellent piece by @mashagessen.bsky.social on how universities should fight Trump’s attack on higher education. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | This Is How Universities Can Escape Trump’s Trap, If They Dare
It’s been tried in other countries facing authoritarian crackdowns. It works.
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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
100 years of First Amendment law is worth very little if it doesn’t foreclose the government from arresting, imprisoning, and expelling legal permanent residents on the basis of their lawful political speech.
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
At 9:30 ET, I’ll be arguing in the D.C. Circuit on behalf of @accountableorg.bsky.social in its challenge to the secrecy of OLC opinions. OLC opinions set the law of the executive branch, but they’re usually kept secret. Hoping we can change that today. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzft...
youtube.com
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Knight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · 11/04/2025
📍TODAY at 9:30am ET: @alexabdo.bsky.social will appear before the D.C. Circuit in a lawsuit alleging the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel is violating #FOIA by failing to disclose certain categories of legal opinions that are binding on the executive branch. Livestream: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzft...
youtube.com
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Evelyn Douek @evelyndouek.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
As the First Amendment cases proudly proclaim, "the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted by customs and border protection"
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Alex Abdo @alexabdo.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
ICE appears to have deleted its X post making clear (if we needed more proof) that it believes its mission is to stop certain "IDEAS" from crossing the border. Here's a perma.cc link to the post: perma.cc/2FLY-4S6J
ICE post on X saying its job is to stop certain ideas from crossing the border.
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Evelyn Douek @evelyndouek.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Can't be emphasized enough that the image of the US deporting people for things they said is so much more damaging to its foreign policy interests than anything a student might have said on the quad
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