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© 2025 The Bully's Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment
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“The Bully’s Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment,” a weekly podcast from the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, follows the Trump administration’s assault on the freedoms of speech and the press and features the people, communities, and institutions that are fighting back. Hosted by legal journalist Cristian Farias and advocates from the Knight Institute, each episode explores a major First Amendment story in the news and features the people most affected.
16 Episodes
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In the final episode of the season, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones sits down with host Cristian Farias to discuss the First Amendment, the fight to preserve hard-won civil rights, and the danger of “erasing our national memory.” From attacks on “The 1619 Project” to attacks on higher education and cultural institutions, she reflects on how “the past lives with us now” and why controlling history means controlling the present. ACLU attorney Emerson Sykes joins the conver...
Since taking office, President Trump has launched a retaliatory campaign aimed at punishing some of the nation’s most prominent law firms. Knight Institute Senior Counsel Scott Wilkens joins host Cristian Farias to explain how Trump’s executive orders are effectively intimidating law firms and lawyers from taking on clients and causes his administration opposes. Bob Bauer, former White House Counsel to President Obama, examines the unconstitutionality of the executive orders, calling the Firs...
The Trump administration’s campaign of extortion against colleges and universities is coming to a head, as settlements with Columbia University and Brown University make headlines this week. Host Cristian Farias invites University of Chicago Law Professor and former Knight Institute Visiting Scholar Genevieve Lakier to discuss the strong First Amendment case universities should be making to resist the Trump administration’s jawboning of higher education. Wesleyan University President Michael ...
In recent weeks, reporters across the country have described chaos unfolding in courthouses as ICE agents have descended on state court and immigration proceedings to arrest and detain noncitizens. Knight Institute Legal Fellow Allie Schiele joins host Cristian Farias to discuss how these courthouse arrests implicate the First Amendment right to seek redress, as well as the Knight Institute’s recent FOIA request aimed at uncovering more about ICE’s courthouse arrest policies. New York City Co...
President Trump’s decision to block the Associated Press—and other journalists he dislikes—from the White House press pool is yet another clear attack on press freedom. Knight Institute Deputy Litigation Director Katie Fallow joins host Cristian Farias to discuss the legal implications of banning journalists from the pool, calling it a “classic First Amendment retaliation.” Longtime White House correspondent and HuffPost reporter S.V. Dáte speaks about the downstream effects these removals ha...
Since taking office in January, President Trump has moved to cut federal funding to universities and other institutions carrying out academic research. Knight Institute Research Director Katy Glenn Bass tells host Cristian Farias about how the Trump administration is using the threat of cutting federal funding to try to enforce ideological conformity with the administration's views. With cuts affecting their research, Cornell Ph.D. students Isako Di Tomassi and Emma Scales talk about organizi...
We’re taking a pause this week for the 4th of July. Everyone at the Knight Institute has been working hard to get ready for a big trial that we previewed during last week’s episode—check it out to learn more. We’ll resume next week with another episode. "The Bully's Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment" is brought to you by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. Please subscribe and leave a review. We’d love to know what you think. To learn more about the Knight I...
In March 2025, the Knight Institute filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s policy of arresting, detaining, and deporting noncitizen students and faculty who participate in pro-Palestinian activism. As the case heads to trial on July 7, host Cristian Farias speaks with Institute Litigation Director Alex Abdo about fighting back against the climate of repression and fear on university campuses wrought by attempts to deport multiple individuals for their pro-Palestinian advocacy....
The ICE raids in Los Angeles outside Home Depot stores and other public spaces have targeted day laborers seeking a day’s pay. Host Cristian Farias talks to immigration lawyer Ahilan Arulanantham about how these raids threaten a recognized First Amendment right of day laborers to seek work. Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, illuminates how day laborers have won hard-earned rights over decades of organizing and community-building. Clari...
The Federal Communications Commission, under Trump-appointee Brendan Carr, is acting less like a watchdog and more like an attack dog. Host Cristian Farias talks to Katie Fallow, the Institute’s deputy director of litigation, about the FCC’s efforts to punish broadcasters for airing content the Trump administration doesn’t like. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez speaks to the importance of an independent regulator unburdened by its leaders’ political objectives, and how the ongoing investigations t...
After issuing his own sweeping executive order, President Trump has sent a rescission notice to Congress seeking to eliminate all federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which includes NPR and PBS. Host Cristian Farias speaks with Nadine Farid Johnson, the Institute’s policy director, to break down historical and ongoing attempts by both Congress and the Executive to defund independent public broadcasting. Tami Graham, executive director of Colorado-based public radio sta...
The government has long invoked its authority to search traveler’s devices—whether owned by noncitizens or citizens—at the U.S. border. Under the second Trump administration, this practice only seems to be growing more aggressive and targeted. Host Cristian Farias speaks with the Institute’s Scott Wilkens, about the legal regime surrounding border searches, and with Amir Makled, an attorney whose smartphone was targeted for search by border agents following his legal representation of a pro-P...
A mere ten days after President Trump took office in January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture began purging climate-focused information from its web pages. Representing organic farmers and environmental activists, the Knight Institute and Earthjustice filed a lawsuit to restore the pages. Host Cristian Farias speaks with the Institute’s Stephanie Krent, an attorney on the case, and Wes Gillingham, organic farmer and board president of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, ...
In the first episode of “The Bully’s Pulpit,” host and journalist Cristian Farias describes a harrowing bail hearing for Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University Ph.D. student who was detained by ICE for co-authoring an opinion piece in a student newspaper, and reflects on the meaning of her shocking detention and now her freedom. Knight Institute Executive Director Jameel Jaffer joins Farias to discuss the Trump administration’s ongoing assault on First Amendment freedoms and the awe-inspiring r...
Cristian Farias, host of the new podcast by the Knight Institute, “The Bully’s Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment,” shares his goal for the show: “to chronicle in real time the coordinated, unprecedented assault by the president of the United States and his administration on the freedoms of expression, inquiry, association, and the press... all happening at this very moment.” Each episode will explore a major First Amendment story in the news and feature the people most affected by it. Laun...
“The Bully’s Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment," a weekly podcast from the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, will follow the Trump administration’s assault on the freedoms of speech and the press and will feature the people, communities, and institutions that are fighting back. Hosted by legal journalist Cristian Farias and advocates from the Knight Institute, each episode will explore a major First Amendment story in the news and feature the people most affected by ...
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