Katy Glenn Bass

Katy Glenn Bass

@katygb.bsky.social

Research Director, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University

2.7K followers715 following169 posts

I've been writing some short thoughts about our @knightcolumbia.org Lawyering Without Law podcast and the future of the legal profession. This one's about the law firms that folded, how Congress and FOIA can find out what they agreed to, and making this shameful episode part of their legacies.

How do we hold law firms accountable for capitulating to Trump? The Institute’s @katygb.bsky.social draws on her podcast discussion with @lessig.bsky.social and Madhav Khosla to answer this question. knightcolumbia.org/blog/account...

Katy Glenn Bass reposted

As I write here, it's totally incoherent to immunize the president from prosecution on the theory that he can be held accountable through the political process — and then to suppress the information that might allow Congress and the public to actually hold him accountable.

Jameel Jaffer@jameeljaffer.bsky.social

Trump has never had to account to the public for his hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Maybe a federal appeals court in Miami can do something about it. New from me about the outrageous suppression of the special counsel’s report. (Gift link.) www.nytimes.com/2026/06/29/o...

Katy Glenn Bass reposted

@alondra.bsky.social's work has been foundational to how I think about AI and democracy - her thread below ties a lot of things together, all worth reading! A key quote: "The Declaration of 1776 did not describe the country that existed. It named what was being demanded of the future."

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Katy Glenn Bass reposted

this truly is the thing that makes the united states exceptional, and right wingers hate it so much they want to destroy it

Quantian@quantian.bsky.social

US universities genuinely are like “welcome to Tennessee Agricultural College in Bumfuck Nowheresville. We invented the modern potato and our facilities include a particle accelerator, nuclear reactor, and TOP500 supercomputer. Tuition is $12,000 for instate students and we have 40,000 of them”

Katy Glenn Bass reposted

By sheer coincidence of timing, my and @cshalizi.bsky.social new @knightcolumbia.org piece on how bad ideas about AI helped fuel the DOGE madness knightcolumbia.org/content/ai-a...

knightcolumbia.orgAI as Social Technology
Scott Dworkin@dworkin.bsky.social

The Trump regime actually let two guys with zero government experience use ChatGPT to cancel $100M in grants—including Holocaust education. A federal judge just humiliated them, called it unconstitutional, and reversed every single cut. Read how she did it: www.dworkinsubstack.com/p/a-federal-...

Excited about our newest @knightcolumbia.org essay from @himself.bsky.social and Cosma Shalizi, AI as Social Technology. Read Henry's 🧵 below for an overview - this piece offers a new way of thinking about AI's place in the longer Industrial Revolution, and how it will interact with bureaucracies.

Henry Farrell@himself.bsky.social

knightcolumbia.org/content/ai-a... Now up at @knightcolumbia.org - Cosma Shalizi and myself on "AI as Social Technology." It says that AI models are really a technology of social mediation that allow humans to connect with thoughts of other humans. Short-ish thread with major points follows.

We've launched a new @knightcolumbia.org podcast about lawyering and authoritarianism, and how law can function both as a safeguard for democratic governance and as a tool of its erosion. First episode is out 👇 and more to come, exploring the legal profession's duty to the rule of law itself.

“We’re very far into autocratic capture of our legal system.” That’s how @kimlanelaw.bsky.social describes the current moment—and what she breaks down in the first episode of Lawyering Without Law. Hosted by @katygb.bsky.social and Madhav Khosla. Listen: buzzsprout.com/2609059/episodes/19105365

Katy Glenn Bass reposted

🚨NEWS: @knightcolumbia.org & @protectdemocracy.org just filed a lawsuit on behalf of @thecoalition.bsky.social challenging the Trump administration's policy targeting social media researchers and trust & safety workers for visa revocation and deportation. More: knightcolumbia.org/content/tech...

knightcolumbia.orgTechnology Researchers Challenge Trump Policy Threatening Deportation for Work on Social Media Platforms and Online Harms

This is the single most effective pro-vaccine piece I've ever read. Especially if you are also active on other, bigger social media platforms, share the gift link below. You might save a life. (I am already extremely pro-vaccine and I suspect most others on this platform are too.)

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Also, if (like me) your last MMR shot was in the 90s, ask your doctor about having your titers checked to make sure you're still immune. Waiting for my test results now.

Looking forward to working with a lot of smart, committed people on this. One of the things that keeps me motivated is the belief that the post-Trump period (and there will be one) may be a time when genuine rethinking/rebuilding of democratic institutions is possible. We should be ready for it.

New Knight Institute Initiative to Focus on "Reconstructing Free Expression" After Trump. @jameeljaffer.bsky.social: "This initiative is meant to encourage creative and ambitious thinking about how to build a system of free expression that serves democracy better." knightcolumbia.org/content/new-...

Katy Glenn Bass reposted

Katy Glenn Bass reposted

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.comTikTok 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

As someone who edits a lot of essays (including the one by Yoel that this book incorrectly quotes) - a good cite check process should have caught this. If I’d published a piece where an error of this magnitude somehow slipped past the checker, I would feel obligated to issue a correction.

Yoel Roth@yoyoel.com

A small (personal) example of this book’s intellectual dishonesty: My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media. Huh? When did I say that?!

Katy Glenn Bass reposted

NB: When I, a professor of law, profess that an act is unlawful, I am not doing it to inform the lawbreaker, but rather to inform you, the reader. So the question “what, like you think he cares?” is inapposite. The question is whether *you* care. I think you should, which is why I bother.

Monday 12:30 ET: The chilling effects of the Trump administration's policies (and jawboning) are widespread - how are they being challenged in court, and what is the state of 1A doctrine on chilling effects? An expert panel will discuss, including current cases AAUP v. Rubio and UAW v. State Dept:

Katy Glenn Bass@katygb.bsky.social

Want to learn more about chilling effects and why they matter to the First Amendment? Join our webinar with litigators and experts on Monday, Nov. 17, including @carriedecell.bsky.social @evelyndouek.bsky.social @penney.bsky.social @stacylivingston.bsky.social: knightcolumbia.org/events/litig...

Call for proposals 👇 for our @knightcolumbia.org project on the legal profession in an age of authoritarianism: What is the role of lawyers in defending democracy? What factors contribute to lawyers’ role in either resisting authoritarianism or accommodating it? knightcolumbia.org/blog/call-fo...

knightcolumbia.orgCall for Proposals: Lawyering Without Law: The Legal Profession in an Age of Authoritarianism
Katy Glenn Bass@katygb.bsky.social

Well, it’s a fitting day to announce a new @knightcolumbia.org project: We’ll be working with Prof. Madhav Khosla, a comparative constitutional law scholar, for the next two years on the role of the legal profession in an era of rising authoritarianism: knightcolumbia.org/content/madh...

Katy Glenn Bass reposted

We @knightcolumbia.org are doing two online events on chilling effects: First on 11/17 on the state of 1A doctrine and current cases involving chilling effects claims, and 2nd on 12/10 on using social science to study the chill caused by particular laws and policies. RSVP links below & in next post:

Katy Glenn Bass@katygb.bsky.social

Want to learn more about chilling effects and why they matter to the First Amendment? Join our webinar with litigators and experts on Monday, Nov. 17, including @carriedecell.bsky.social @evelyndouek.bsky.social @penney.bsky.social @stacylivingston.bsky.social: knightcolumbia.org/events/litig...