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 conversation to discuss the tension that can arise between racial justice and free speech work, and how defending free speech while safeguarding civil rights is essential to protecting both our history and our future.

"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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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 First Amendment violation a direct line that connects the attacks on Big Law with the attacks on universities and the press.

"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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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 Roth argues that the administration is weaponizing allegations of antisemitism “to get control of colleges and universities” and ultimately erode the independence of academic institutions.

"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 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 Comptroller Brad Lander shares ground-level accounts of these harrowing arrests—including his own—and underscores the urgent need to defend the rule of law in the face of ICE’s seemingly extralegal actions: “Once you start seeing families separated and people abducted, you feel like you've gotta do everything you can to raise your voice."

"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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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 have had on both White House reporting and press freedom at large.

"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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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 organizing the McClintock Letters, an initiative in which researchers from around the country are writing op-eds for local and state publications discussing how funding cuts are affecting their research and lives. Facing existential threats, scientists are finding new ways to communicate the importance of their research.

"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.

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

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.