Jameel Jaffer
@jameeljaffer.bsky.social
Director, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University; Exec Editor, Just Security; former ACLU. knightcolumbia.org.
Ironically it has been a demand of student protesters since the 1960s that universities end their entanglement with the military and CIA. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...
Hegseth Says Defense Department Will Cut Ties With Harvard
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2026 at 12:23 PM
Ironically it has been a demand of student protesters since the 1960s that universities end their entanglement with the military and CIA. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...
Summer internships with @justsecurity.org, spread the word. www.justsecurity.org/just-securit...
Join Just Security for a Summer 2026 Internship!
Just Security invites applications from students for summer internships on issues incuding law, policy, rights, democracy, and security.
www.justsecurity.org
February 6, 2026 at 7:38 PM
Summer internships with @justsecurity.org, spread the word. www.justsecurity.org/just-securit...
Reposted by Jameel Jaffer
Each and every German dances to the strain
Of the I was not a Nazi Polka
All without exception join in the refrain
Of the I was not a Nazi Polka
Goering was a crazy we wanted to deport
Sing the I was not a Nazi Polka
We all thought that Dachau was just a nice resort
Sing the I was not a Nazi Polka
Of the I was not a Nazi Polka
All without exception join in the refrain
Of the I was not a Nazi Polka
Goering was a crazy we wanted to deport
Sing the I was not a Nazi Polka
We all thought that Dachau was just a nice resort
Sing the I was not a Nazi Polka
over the next 3 years, be ready for seeing a lot of coverage of Republican lawmakers, business leaders, university leaders who did absolutely nothing to stall Trump (on the contrary) — about how *actually* they were wringing their hands all along. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/u...
February 5, 2026 at 8:50 PM
Each and every German dances to the strain
Of the I was not a Nazi Polka
All without exception join in the refrain
Of the I was not a Nazi Polka
Goering was a crazy we wanted to deport
Sing the I was not a Nazi Polka
We all thought that Dachau was just a nice resort
Sing the I was not a Nazi Polka
Of the I was not a Nazi Polka
All without exception join in the refrain
Of the I was not a Nazi Polka
Goering was a crazy we wanted to deport
Sing the I was not a Nazi Polka
We all thought that Dachau was just a nice resort
Sing the I was not a Nazi Polka
“Columbia was the test case for this government strategy of kidnapping people first and then asking questions later” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/n...
12 Columbia Professors and Students Are Arrested at Anti-ICE Protest
www.nytimes.com
February 6, 2026 at 2:32 AM
“Columbia was the test case for this government strategy of kidnapping people first and then asking questions later” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/n...
Unfortunately very timely essay from @ssinnar.bsky.social & Darryl Li about some states’ effort to reframe civil rights advocacy as terrorism. knightcolumbia.org/blog/red-sta...
February 5, 2026 at 8:38 PM
Unfortunately very timely essay from @ssinnar.bsky.social & Darryl Li about some states’ effort to reframe civil rights advocacy as terrorism. knightcolumbia.org/blog/red-sta...
There is absolutely no basis for the allegation that Harvard engaged in “illegal behavior,” but what Trump administration officials are engaged in is criminal extortion even if Trump’s corrupt DOJ won’t prosecute it.
February 5, 2026 at 8:31 PM
There is absolutely no basis for the allegation that Harvard engaged in “illegal behavior,” but what Trump administration officials are engaged in is criminal extortion even if Trump’s corrupt DOJ won’t prosecute it.
Or perhaps someone else can buy this paper from Bezos—since he seems to view it as an albatross—and donate it to a foundation established to run it as a nonprofit. Bezos gets a capital loss, the buyer/donor is a hero, the rest of us get a world class newspaper. The Knight Institute is ready to help.
Jeff Bezos should be a hero and donate the Washington Post to a charity. Bezos would get a big charitable deduction; the rest of us would get a newspaper dedicated to the public interest. This post from Steven Waldman is from a year ago but it's still a great idea. www.cjr.org/opinion/wald...
Jeff Bezos Should Donate the Washington Post to a Charity
His conflicts of interests are insurmountable. He can take a heroic path to strengthen journalism.
www.cjr.org
February 4, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Or perhaps someone else can buy this paper from Bezos—since he seems to view it as an albatross—and donate it to a foundation established to run it as a nonprofit. Bezos gets a capital loss, the buyer/donor is a hero, the rest of us get a world class newspaper. The Knight Institute is ready to help.
The biggest threats to journalism in this country, and to the possibility of an informed and empowered electorate, stem from the political economy of the media. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/f...
Washington Post undergoing significant layoffs as part of ‘strategic reset’
Employees were told Wednesday that the paper’s sports desk would close among other cuts and restructurings
www.theguardian.com
February 4, 2026 at 2:17 PM
The biggest threats to journalism in this country, and to the possibility of an informed and empowered electorate, stem from the political economy of the media. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/f...
King George III vibes
Mike Johnson speaks out against the use of judicial warrants in immigration cases:
"Imagine if we had to go through the process of getting a judicial warrant"
"Imagine if we had to go through the process of getting a judicial warrant"
February 3, 2026 at 6:05 PM
King George III vibes
Excellent, worth reading. www.theunpopulist.net/p/the-fashio...
The Fashionable Notion of 'Free Speech Culture' Is Justifying State Censorship, Ironically
It'll convince people that free speech is a sham
www.theunpopulist.net
February 2, 2026 at 10:35 PM
Excellent, worth reading. www.theunpopulist.net/p/the-fashio...
Reposted by Jameel Jaffer
A list, in no particular order, of just some of the moves that the Trump administration has made in its ongoing campaign to suppress and deter journalism essential to democracy: Arrest Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for covering an anti-ICE protest. Raid the home of a Washington Post reporter, ...
January 30, 2026 at 6:54 PM
A list, in no particular order, of just some of the moves that the Trump administration has made in its ongoing campaign to suppress and deter journalism essential to democracy: Arrest Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for covering an anti-ICE protest. Raid the home of a Washington Post reporter, ...
A list, in no particular order, of just some of the moves that the Trump administration has made in its ongoing campaign to suppress and deter journalism essential to democracy: Arrest Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for covering an anti-ICE protest. Raid the home of a Washington Post reporter, ...
January 30, 2026 at 6:54 PM
A list, in no particular order, of just some of the moves that the Trump administration has made in its ongoing campaign to suppress and deter journalism essential to democracy: Arrest Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for covering an anti-ICE protest. Raid the home of a Washington Post reporter, ...
Reposted by Jameel Jaffer
Anyway congrats to our Free Speech Champions(tm) who helped usher in the most censorious American government since the Palmer Raids
January 30, 2026 at 1:23 PM
Anyway congrats to our Free Speech Champions(tm) who helped usher in the most censorious American government since the Palmer Raids
The arrests of Lemon and Fort are intended to deter journalists from doing work we need them to do, and that the First Amendment was meant to protect. DOJ should drop these prosecutions or the courts should throw them out. knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...
Knight Institute Condemns Arrest of Journalists Reporting on Minneapolis Protests
knightcolumbia.org
January 30, 2026 at 3:57 PM
The arrests of Lemon and Fort are intended to deter journalists from doing work we need them to do, and that the First Amendment was meant to protect. DOJ should drop these prosecutions or the courts should throw them out. knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...
It was just last week, remember, that the FBI raided a Washington Post journalist’s home and seized her phones in connection with a leak investigation. This administration views journalism as a crime. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/u...
Federal Agents Arrest Don Lemon Over Minnesota Church Protest
www.nytimes.com
January 30, 2026 at 1:24 PM
It was just last week, remember, that the FBI raided a Washington Post journalist’s home and seized her phones in connection with a leak investigation. This administration views journalism as a crime. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/u...
The purported justification for the proposed war with Iran changes by the hour. Trump, Rubio, and Hegseth don't even pretend to have a plan beyond bombing, and they're not even sure what exactly they want to bomb. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/u...
Trump Weighs New Military Options Against Iran
www.nytimes.com
January 30, 2026 at 1:28 AM
The purported justification for the proposed war with Iran changes by the hour. Trump, Rubio, and Hegseth don't even pretend to have a plan beyond bombing, and they're not even sure what exactly they want to bomb. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/u...
Jeff Bezos should be a hero and donate the Washington Post to a charity. Bezos would get a big charitable deduction; the rest of us would get a newspaper dedicated to the public interest. This post from Steven Waldman is from a year ago but it's still a great idea. www.cjr.org/opinion/wald...
Jeff Bezos Should Donate the Washington Post to a Charity
His conflicts of interests are insurmountable. He can take a heroic path to strengthen journalism.
www.cjr.org
January 28, 2026 at 7:43 PM
Jeff Bezos should be a hero and donate the Washington Post to a charity. Bezos would get a big charitable deduction; the rest of us would get a newspaper dedicated to the public interest. This post from Steven Waldman is from a year ago but it's still a great idea. www.cjr.org/opinion/wald...
The TikTok law was supposedly motivated by concerns about Chinese censorship and surveillance so it is interesting that US-controlled TikTok is a few days old and already generating censorship and surveillance scandals. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...
TikTok Blames Technical Problems After Users Claimed It Blocked ICE Posts
www.nytimes.com
January 27, 2026 at 9:51 PM
The TikTok law was supposedly motivated by concerns about Chinese censorship and surveillance so it is interesting that US-controlled TikTok is a few days old and already generating censorship and surveillance scandals. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...
My former ACLU colleagues have filed suit over the Venezuela boat strikes, which they (properly) characterize as “murders, ordered by individuals at the highest levels of government.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...
Trinidadian Families File Wrongful Death Lawsuit Over Boat Strike by U.S. Military
www.nytimes.com
January 27, 2026 at 3:14 PM
My former ACLU colleagues have filed suit over the Venezuela boat strikes, which they (properly) characterize as “murders, ordered by individuals at the highest levels of government.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...
If Air Canada can get me to Nova Scotia, I'll be delivering this lecture at Dalhousie on Wednesday. The lecture expands on an argument that I made in an essay for the NYT a year ago. www.eventbrite.ca/e/horace-e-r...
Horace E. Read Lecture - The Spirit of Liberty
Canadian human rights lawyer Jameel Jaffer, inaugural director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.
www.eventbrite.ca
January 26, 2026 at 5:00 PM
If Air Canada can get me to Nova Scotia, I'll be delivering this lecture at Dalhousie on Wednesday. The lecture expands on an argument that I made in an essay for the NYT a year ago. www.eventbrite.ca/e/horace-e-r...
This is a great paper. SCOTUS was not just wrong to uphold the TikTok ban but deeply, consequentially, historically wrong. Holmes and Brandeis are turning in their graves.
Apropos of the TikTok news last week, I have a piece coming out abt how the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the ban-or-sale law belongs in the First Amendment anticanon. It's not just wrong, but so wrong we should hold it up as an exceptional symbol of wrongness.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
TikTok v. Garland and the First Amendment Anticanon
<p><span>This essay argues that last term’s decision in <i>TikTok v. Garland</i>, which unanimously upheld the federal law that sought to ban TikTok in the Unit
papers.ssrn.com
January 26, 2026 at 4:39 PM
This is a great paper. SCOTUS was not just wrong to uphold the TikTok ban but deeply, consequentially, historically wrong. Holmes and Brandeis are turning in their graves.
Reposted by Jameel Jaffer
Standing with 65 of my UMN Law colleagues (and counting) to condemn ICE’s lawless conduct towards Minnesotans: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Open Letter to Minnesota Law CommunityJanuary 25
January 25, 2026 To the Minnesota Law Community: We, the undersigned faculty of the University of Minnesota Law School, write in our individual capacities to address the federal government's ongoin...
docs.google.com
January 25, 2026 at 11:53 PM
Standing with 65 of my UMN Law colleagues (and counting) to condemn ICE’s lawless conduct towards Minnesotans: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted by Jameel Jaffer
The official policy of the government of the United States of America is that they will murder anyone they want, that they will tell any lie necessary to justify that murder, and that no one who resists them has any rights they are bound to respect.
/1
/1
January 24, 2026 at 7:18 PM
The official policy of the government of the United States of America is that they will murder anyone they want, that they will tell any lie necessary to justify that murder, and that no one who resists them has any rights they are bound to respect.
/1
/1
Judge William Young, who invalidated Trump's policy of arresting & deporting students for their pro-Palestinian advocacy, is 85-years old and was appointed to the bench by President Reagan 41 years ago. Here's how he concluded his "annotated judgment" in the case. knightcolumbia.org/documents/k4...
January 24, 2026 at 2:29 PM
Judge William Young, who invalidated Trump's policy of arresting & deporting students for their pro-Palestinian advocacy, is 85-years old and was appointed to the bench by President Reagan 41 years ago. Here's how he concluded his "annotated judgment" in the case. knightcolumbia.org/documents/k4...
Laird v Tatum was a terrible decision that continues to haunt our democracy half a century later.
ICE agent asked why he's taking pictures of a legal observer's car, replies: "Cuz we have a nice little database and now you're considered a domestic terrorist. So have fun with that."
January 23, 2026 at 9:39 PM
Laird v Tatum was a terrible decision that continues to haunt our democracy half a century later.