The seizure of Washington Post reporter @hannahnatanson.bsky.social's devices likely killed far more stories than any court order ever could.
Judge Porter should've done more to punish prosecutors, but he was right to call the raid what it was — a prior restraint.
Turner on Artificial Legal Agents
Christian Turner (University of Georgia School of Law) has posted Artificial Legal Agents and the Alien Stance on SSRN. Here is the abstract: We find ourselves ensnared in an ever nastier and strident debate over AI and its role in law, society, and private life.…
RonNell Andersen Jones, Sonja West, Christina Koningisor, Helen Norton, Victor Pickard, and image of "The Future of Press Freedom" book.
TOMORROW: Join @randersenjones.bsky.social, @sonjawest.bsky.social, @ckoningisor.bsky.social, Helen Norton and @victorpickard.bsky.social on Zoom from 12-1:30 p.m. to discuss "The Future of Press Freedom."
Register: events.zoom.us/ev/AmsN0eMJS...
Any news coverage of these attacks that does not include the word “Congress” in either its headline or lede is failing to do journalism.
New: As David Ellison prepares to take control of CNN, legendary CBS News producer Mary Walsh, who is exiting, sent a goodbye note to colleagues.
In the note, Walsh writes, "We’ve been told to aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum. Honestly, I don’t know how to do that."
This is great. A rich and insightful conversation about press freedom and contemporary threats to it—with @dahlialithwick.bsky.social & former @knightcolumbia.org visiting scholars @randersenjones.bsky.social & @sonjawest.bsky.social. slate.com/news-and-pol...
chewing over tariffs with @mjsdc.bsky.social and taking a long hard look at the limits of the press clause and constitutional protections for newsgathering with @randersenjones.bsky.social and @sonjawest.bsky.social
Very excited to get my author’s copy of “We the Voters: The Constitutional
Choices that Shape America’s Elections.” This was a labor of love, and it is thrilling to see it materialize in the real world.
We gotta come up with a better system than “everything rests on whether these twelve billionnaires are nice”
Pinned lizzie johnson @lizziejohnsonnn · Aug 19, 2021 Almost three years ago, my editor called me early one November morning. A wildfire had sparked near a town called Paradise, he said. Could I go? (1/13) 0:02 / 0:10 lizzie johnson @lizziejohnsonnn · 47m I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a warzone. I have no words. I'm devastated. Quote lizzie johnson @lizziejohnsonnn · Jan 25 Waking up without power, heat, or running water. (Again.) But the work here in Kyiv continues. Warming up in the car, writing in pencil — pen ink freezes — by headlamp.
A publisher who lays off a reporter whose pen is freezing because she's covering a frigid war zone while dodging missiles is not an editor you want to work for, in a more perfect world
“As an international organization, we know that the treatment of journalists is a leading indicator of the condition of a country’s democracy,” said CPJ CEO @jodieginsberg.bsky.social.
Read more on the arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort: cpj.org/2026/01/cpj-...
RCFP's Gabe Rottman: “It’s obviously concerning any time journalists are arrested in connection with their reporting. To our knowledge, it’s unprecedented for the Justice Department to deploy the federal laws it has previously cited in this case against journalistic activity. Historically, the limited number of cases that have been brought against a journalist documenting a protest on private property have been handled as trespass cases at the state level. Those charges are almost always dropped, or if the cases go to trial, the journalists typically prevail.”
@rcfp.org's statement on the arrest of independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, who were charged with violating federal law while covering a protest inside a Minnesota church.
🔗 Read more: www.rcfp.org/lemon-fort-a...
Katherine Jacobsen of the Committee to Protect Journalists reacts to the arrest of Don Lemon: "As an international organization, we know that the treatment of journalists is an indicator of the condition of a country's democracy. The United States is doing poorly."
The FBI’s raid today on the home of @washingtonpost.com reporter @hannahnatanson.bsky.social is an alarming escalation in the Trump administration’s war on the press.
Watch @trevortimm.bsky.social explain how the DOJ is not only attacking the First Amendment but also ignoring federal law.
Graphic shows headshots of the three professors mentioned, a UGA Law logo along with text that says “Faculty Presentations.”
Recent Faculty Presentations! Elizabeth Chamblee Burch presented at Yale University, Pamela Foohey presented at the University of Illinois, and Sonja West presented at the University of Chicago, Yale University and Columbia University. www.law.uga.edu/faculty-high...
Honored! Anyone curious to read the article can find it here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Thanks to @lsolum.bsky.social for naming my piece with @thomaskadri.bsky.social on Deepfake Torts as one of the top ten “Downloads of the Year” for 2025!
legaltheoryblog.com/2026/01/01/d...
You know what media is NOT bending the knee in the Trump era? College journalists! The Harvard Crimson's brutal takedown of the lecherous ex-prez Larry Summers is just the latest example of students showing a failing 'grown-up' media how it's done
My new column www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...
Full house for "The Future of Press Freedom in an Era of Democratic Backsliding" panel. Thank you @randersenjones.bsky.social, @attorneynora.bsky.social, @azmatzahra.bsky.social, @joelsimonsays.bsky.social, @sulliview.bsky.social, & @sonjawest.bsky.social for joining us to discuss #pressfreedom.
📍TOMORROW: A panel of legal experts and journalists discuss how to protect #pressfreedom and support journalists under Trump. Feat. @randersenjones.bsky.social, @attorneynora.bsky.social, @azmatzahra.bsky.social, @joelsimonsays.bsky.social, @sulliview.bsky.social, and @sonjawest.bsky.social. RSVP.
As deepfake technology becomes increasingly sophisticated and accessible, American lawmakers are responding with a flurry of urgent legislative action to address its potential harms. Our 50-state survey of proposed and enacted deepfake legislation reveals a complex regulatory landscape in which jurisdictions are adopting a range of legal approaches, including criminal punishments, civil remedies, or a combination of methods. We also find that legislators are frequently turning to tort-law frameworks to address the harms of deepfakes. This article explores the current landscape of tort-based regulations of deepfakes. In addition to providing an overview of the most recent legislative developments, we unpack and compare the various tort-law methods arising at the state and federal level. We further consider how lawmakers are modifying existing tort laws to address the unique concerns raised by deepfakes. While individualistic tort remedies allow victims of deepfakes to seek direct recourse through familiar private rights of action, our analysis also identifies practical and conceptual limitations with this approach. Traditional tort frameworks struggle to address key challenges posed by deepfakes, including anonymous creation, viral distribution at technological scale, and harms affecting both individuals and society broadly. In light of these limitations, legislators are innovatively adapting traditional tort concepts—such as standing, mental states, causation, immunities, and remedies—to address deepfakes’ unique characteristics. Yet the very need for these adaptations reveals some of tort law’s shortcomings and suggests a space for complementary regulatory approaches. We consider some potential approaches that could provide this more complete framework, like tort liability for entities that enable deepfake creation and circulation, and civil enforcement mechanisms that empower state actors to vindicate both individual and societal interests. Ultimately, our finding…
My new piece with @sonjawest.bsky.social is live in the Journal of Tort Law!
Our original 50-state survey of 466 deepfake laws reveals a complex landscape in which lawmakers are experimenting with novel criminal, civil & administrative tools to address deepfakes. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
📌 11/5 EVENT: A panel of legal experts and journalists discuss how to protect #pressfreedom and support journalists under Trump. Feat. @randersenjones.bsky.social, @attorneynora.bsky.social, @azmatzahra.bsky.social, @joelsimonsays.bsky.social, @sulliview.bsky.social, & @sonjawest.bsky.social. RSVP.
Thanks to @lsolum.bsky.social for the generous recommendation of my forthcoming piece with @sonjawest.bsky.social!
Download of the Week: "Deepfake Torts" by Kadri & West,, buff.ly/mHVqTbJ - The Download of the Week is Deepfake Torts: Emerging Tort Frameworks in U.S. Deepfake Regulation by Thomas Kadri & Sonja West.
I wrote for the @nytimes.com about the administration’s abandonment of statistics and data in favor of information as an instrument of raw control
The essays written for our @knightcolumbia.org "Future of Press Freedom" project with @randersenjones.bsky.social and @sonjawest.bsky.social are now published in an open-access edited volume from @cambup-law.cambridge.org. 26 essays from an incredible group of scholars 👇
The Future of Press Freedom: Democracy, Law, and the News in Changing Times eds. @randersenjones.bsky.social of @sjquinney.bsky.social & @sonjawest.bsky.social of @universityofga.bsky.social
Out Now & #OpenAccess
#Politics #LawSky 💙📚
cup.org/3IYbrHA
We're excited to announce that Professor @randersenjones.bsky.social has published a new book with @sonjawest.bsky.social!
Since April 4, #SCOTUS has issued 15 rulings on 17 emergency applications filed by Trump (three birthright citizenship apps were consolidated).
It has granted relief to Trump ... in all 15 rulings.
It has written majority opinions in only 3.
Today's order is the 7th with no explanation *at all.*
