Transparency & Democracy
Ensuring access to information necessary for self-government
The First Amendment embraces the public’s right to access the information needed to hold the powerful accountable and participate fully in the process of self-government.
Our aim in defending and promoting transparency is not simply to compel the disclosure of information that the public is entitled to know, but to broaden public access to information through changes in government policy and the law.
Featured
Press Statement
Former Government Officials, as well as Media Organizations, Microsoft, Former Magistrate Judges File SCOTUS Briefs Challenging Secrecy of U.S. Surveillance Court
Filers Urge Supreme Court to Hear Case on Public Right of Access to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Opinions
LATEST NEWS & ANALYSIS
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Institute Update
Knight Institute Publishes New Series of OLC Indexes
The Knight Institute has published 12 new lists of the titles of unclassified opinions written by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel between 1959 and 1972. The July 23 release is one of a series negotiated with the OLC...
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Press Statement
Knight Institute Comments on DOJ’s New Guidelines Limiting the Seizure of Journalists’ Records
Calls on Congress to codify new protections quickly
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Quick Take : Press Freedom
The Pentagon Papers 50 Years Later
Safeguarding press freedom today requires extending protections to whistleblowers and limiting the use of the Espionage Act
By Lorraine Kenny
LITIGATION & ADVOCACY
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Lawsuit
ACLU v. CIA & Knight Institute v. DOD
Three FOIA lawsuits seeking records related to the government censorship system of "prepublication review"
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Lawsuit
Campaign for Accountability v. DOJ
A FOIA lawsuit seeking proactive disclosure of the Office of Legal Counsel’s secret legal opinions
RESEARCH
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Essays and Scholarship
Transparency’s AI Problem
Artificial intelligence’s opaque processes and outcomes make it an incomplete tool for governing
By Hannah Bloch-Wehba -
Essays and Scholarship
Is the Administrative State Ready for Big Data?
Exploring the accountability challenges in environmental and public health regulation
By Wendy Wagner & Martin Murillo -
Essays and Scholarship
Democracy's Data Infrastructure
The technopolitics of the U.S. census
By Dan Bouk & danah boyd
Events
Online
Book Talk: How Rights Went Wrong
A conversation with Jamal Greene about why our obsession with rights is tearing America apart
The Mauritanian
Screening of The Mauritanian and panel discussion with Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Tahar Rahim, Nancy Hollander, and Larry Siems
Online
The Dissident
Screening of the new documentary, The Dissident, and panel discussion about the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi