Alex Abdo
Litigation Director, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University (he/him)
- 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...
- 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...
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- 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...
- Do people need to be in NY?
- The position is based in New York.
- 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.
- Excellent piece by @mashagessen.bsky.social on how universities should fight Trump’s attack on higher education. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/o...
- 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...
- 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
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- Filed in support of AAUP v. Rubio, the case filed by @aaup.bsky.social and @knightcolumbia.org, challenging Trump’s efforts to deport students for their pro-Palestinian advocacy. knightcolumbia.org/cases/aaup-v...
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- You can read more about the cases here: knightcolumbia.org/cases/dada-v... And here: knightcolumbia.org/cases/campai... 4/4
- On Thursday (4/10) at 12 ET, @carriedecell.bsky.social will be arguing in the Ninth Circuit in Dada v. NSO Group, our suit against the notorious spyware maker. Link to the audio stream here: youtu.be/7A2fQJqaLKc 2/4
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- One of the proudest traditions in our legal system is that of lawyers standing up to oppose unlawful acts by the government. President Trump’s executive orders targeting law firms are an unconstitutional attack on that tradition and on the rule of law. knightcolumbia.org/content/lega...
- The strategy is to divide and conquer. Refusing to stand together—staying divided—just makes each successive attack more likely and more successful than the last. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/b...
- We've asked a federal court to enter a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration's policy of rounding up and attempting to deport students and faculty for expressing pro-Palestinian views. Brief here: knightcolumbia.org/documents/dc... And here's the main First Amendment argument:
- In a sensible system, those ultimately in charge of our universities—the boards of trustees—would be selected for their commitment to academic freedom. That's not currently the case, unfortunately, and the results are unsurprising. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
- There's more courage and moral clarity in this letter from a law-school student group than in the leadership of some of the richest law firms on the planet.
- Ben Franklin’s words remain prescient nearly 300 years later.
- Federal officials shouldn't be using "disappearing messages" unless they're separately preserving these texts as required by federal records laws.
- Courts often give near-total deference to the gov't in making decisions about national security, on the premise that it can be trusted to wield that power responsibly — even without judicial review. That premise was always wrong, but we're now getting daily reminders.
- JUST FILED: our new suit challenging the Trump administration's policy of deporting faculty and students for engaging in pro-Palestinian speech. Filed on behalf of @aaup.bsky.social, @mesa1966.bsky.social, and AAUP's NYU, Harvard, and Mass. chapters. knightcolumbia.org/content/aaup...
- This is a must-read op-ed by one of Columbia's former provosts (the highest academic position in the university). www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/o...
- Nice to see a law firm standing up for the rule of law. The administration’s strategy here is to divide and conquer. The only answer to that is for firms and civic institutions to stand together. www.selendygay.com/news/general...
- I know some aren’t sure Columbia can win by standing on principle. But I don’t see how it can survive without principle. Academic freedom defines a university. I don’t envy those staring down the barrel of Trump’s wrath. But I had hoped that they wouldn’t have been the ones to pull the trigger.
- I think these sentiments are widely shared at @knightcolumbia.org.
- The administration held up the university at gunpoint, but I can’t help but feel that Columbia has lost something it may never regain. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/n...
- Great statement by both conservative and liberal constitutional scholars explaining very clearly why the freeze of Columbia's funding is unconstitutional. www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
- Here's our (@knightcolumbia.org) statement condemning the Trump administration's effort to subjugate universities to official power. knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...
- What's happening at Columbia is an assault on the foundation of higher education. Universities need to stand together and condemn this for what it is. The fact that they haven't yet only seems to be emboldening the Trump administration. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
- This is one of the most chilling letters I've ever seen on government letterhead. It's an attempt to coerce Columbia into adopting the government's vision of academic life and speech. drive.google.com/file/d/12ogI...
- It's a busy time, and so we're hiring another legal fellow to start right away. I hope you'll consider joining us. knightcolumbia.org/page/legal-f...
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- In the second, which we filed in the case against Sue Mi Terry, we argued that courts should interpret the Foreign Agents Registration Act narrowly, to avoid the concerns that would arise from applying it broadly to all manner of protected political expression. knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...
- An excellent editorial by the NYT about President Trump’s war on free speech. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/o...
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- And here's a great story about the motion: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/u...
- Earlier today, @knightcolumbia.org joined with @earthjustice.bsky.social to sue the USDA for unlawfully taking down webpages related to climate change. See the complaint here: knightcolumbia.org/cases/northe...
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- Pass a privacy law so that users have more control over the data used to target them and sap their attention. And require the companies to be more transparent about how they use our data and with what effect. /n
- Unless the FCC has a factual basis to believe that Comcast is violating anti-discrimination laws, then this seems like the targeting of disfavored — but constitutionally protected — speech. The false premise here is that all DEI efforts violate anti-discrim laws.
- I wrote up a quick reaction (at @justsecurity.org) to Trump’s executive order on free speech. www.justsecurity.org/106608/free-...
- This post aged well.
- We (@knightcolumbia.org) just issued this statement urging President Biden to pardon Ravi Ragbir, an immigrant rights activist targeted by the Trump administration in retaliation for his advocacy. Here's the statement by my colleague @ramyakrishnan.bsky.social: knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...
- The Supreme Court often defers to claims of "national security" on the theory that the political branches are best positioned to identify and address certain threats. But they're the *political* branches, which means they sometimes act like politicians. www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
- It took us a few thousand words in our amicus brief in the TikTok case to say what this individual said in less than a minute in ... you guessed it ... a TikTok video. (Here's our brief, for reference: knightcolumbia.org/documents/5c...)
