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.

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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 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 Institute, visit our website, knightcolumbia.org, and follow us on social media.

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.

Clarification: In this episode, we state that a 2011 federal appeals court ruling establishing a First Amendment right for day laborers to seek work in public also established the law for the entire nation. Instead, the case set binding precedent in the Ninth Circuit, and that precedent became persuasive authority for other courts throughout the nation.

"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 Institute, visit our website, knightcolumbia.org, and follow us on social media.

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 threaten press freedom.

"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 Institute, visit our website, knightcolumbia.org, and follow us on social media.

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 station KSUT, speaks about her station’s important work serving both tribal and broader communities, as well as KSUT’s lawsuit against the Trump administration over attempted funding cuts. In the face of major threats, public broadcasters are fighting to protect their independence.

"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 Institute, visit our website, knightcolumbia.org, and follow us on social media.

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-Palestine protester. They discuss how the omnipresence of digital devices and the presence of Ports of Entry at airports throughout the country have vastly expanded opportunities for the government to search and surveil travelers.

"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 Institute, visit our website, knightcolumbia.org, and follow us on social media.

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, the lawsuit’s lead plaintiff. They discuss how the data purge has already harmed farmers, how they’re fighting this form of “thought control,” and what this has to do with the First Amendment.

"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 Institute, visit our website, knightcolumbia.org, and follow us on social media.

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 resilience of students who have been threatened with deportation for their constitutionally protected speech.

"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 Institute, visit our website, knightcolumbia.org, and follow us on social media.