BREAKING: Federal Court Finds Columbia U May Have Acted as Government’s Instrument to Suppress Palestinian Advocacy – in Violation of the First Amendment
(NEW YORK, NY, 3/19/26) – A coalition including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR National), CAIR-NY, Dratel & Lewis, Project TAHA, and Main Street Legal Services Inc. housed at CUNY School of Law today welcomed a federal court’s order greenlighting a lawsuit by Mahmoud Khalil and seven other Columbia University students against the Trump Administration and Columbia University for violating the First Amendment rights of Columbia students.
In the decision, the Court recognized that—if documentation supports the Plaintiffs’ claims—the Trump Administration will be held to account for seeking to target and punish student speech critical of Israel and/or supportive of Palestine. The Court’s order also makes clear that Columbia’s capitulation to the federal government means that the University can be held to account for violating the First Amendment rights of its own students. Plaintiffs can now gather evidence, including communications between Trump officials, the House Committee, and Columbia administration never before made public.
SEE: Decision from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
This ongoing lawsuit seeks to stop Columbia from complying with illegal directives from both Congress and the Trump Administration to suppress political dissent. In denying the Trump Administration and Columbia’s motions to dismiss the lawsuit, the Court found that our students have standing to challenge Columbia’s use of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which prohibits political speech critical of the state of Israel. Plaintiffs also have standing to block Defendants from turning over student records to Congress —which has wielded its investigative authority to suppress all speech that criticizes Israel’s actions in Gaza. The Court confirmed a previous order that prevents Columbia from turning over the names and identities of student advocates to Congress—which will remain in place during the pendency of this litigation.
READ MORE: Trump Administration’s Coercion of Columbia U
While the Court allowed the lawsuit to move forward, it denied the students’ motion for preliminary injunction—emergency relief sought while the case proceeds. That ruling is not the end of the matter, because the Court permitted the Plaintiffs to renew their request for a preliminary injunction after discovery uncovers the full extent of the unlawful collaboration between Congress, the Trump Administration, and Columbia University
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“A government that represses viewpoints it doesn’t agree with or like is antithetical to a democratic society,” said Deema Azizi, Senior Litigation Attorney at CAIR-NY. “Our Plaintiffs should not have to live in fear of reprisal for their First Amendment-protected speech about Palestine or any other topic. Today’s decision allows us to move forward in our legal fight to hold the Executive Agency Defendants and Columbia University accountable for violating our clients’ basic freedom of speech.”
“Today’s order makes clear that both the Federal Government and Columbia University can be held accountable if they suppress protected First Amendment expressive activity on Columbia’s campus, even when Columbia hides behind the unlawful demands for student records by the House Committee on Education and Workforce,” said Attorney Amy Greer of Dratel & Lewis. “Our incredible Plaintiffs will continue to seek and speak truth, vindicate their rights to advocate for Palestinian life, dignity, and self-determination, and hold the powerful to account.”
“Columbia has become an appendage of the Trump administration,” said CAIR Legal Defense Fund Attorney Gadeir Abbas, “This decision is an indication that both will ultimately be held accountable.”
“Columbia has made a Faustian deal,” said Zal K. Shroff, Assistant Prof. of Law at CUNY School of Law, “It has ensured its own financial health by agreeing to muzzle its students’ self-expression or arrest them into compliance. But the U.S. Constitution forbids that kind of callous capitulation. Pre-compliance with authoritarianism has consequences. Let this be a lesson to institutions that would rather sell out the public than defend what is right. We will see you in Court, too.”
Plaintiffs also provided statements to mark the Court’s decision:
“Columbia University is an active participant in the decline of free speech that we are witnessing today,” said Plaintiff Sam Soe (pseudonym). “Having experienced Columbia’s disciplinary process firsthand, it is evident that the goal of university discipline is to scare students into silence, but I will not be censored. The University can sell its own soul, but they cannot sell mine. If I am to finish my degree, it cannot be without demanding accountability. I hope this case can stop the underhanded methods the Trump Administration and Columbia have used to stifle student voices so that other students do not suffer what I have experienced.”
“Columbia’s collaboration with the federal government to stifle pro-Palestinian speech has not only made it impossible to grieve the mass death of my people, but also endangered me as a Palestinian student,” said Plaintiff Sally Roe (pseudonym). “The release of my records to Congress has exposed me to unbearable harassment, and Columbia’s excessive discipline has made it impossible to express myself or my identity as a Palestinian student. I have witnessed firsthand the palpable fear among the student body to voice support for Palestine—fear that should have no place in an academic institution. This lawsuit is an invaluable step towards holding Columbia accountable for its systematic silencing of dissent.”
“Columbia didn’t just capitulate to the Trump Administration, it collaborated to strip its students of their right to free speech, said Plaintiff Mahmoud Khalil. “This is an institution whose Board of Trustees is ideologically committed to protecting Israel from criticism at any cost, including the constitutional rights of its own students and faculty. Columbia should immediately rescind the IHRA definition and compensate every affiliate whose rights were violated. Enough with operating in the dark, cutting shady deals with the government, abruptly changing policies, destroying students’ lives. That ends now. Discovery is coming. It will all come out.”
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BACKGROUNDER:
The Trump Administration and the House Committee on Education and Workforce have used Columbia University as a test case to see if the Government can coerce an institution of learning into surveilling, suppressing, and punishing students for their political speech, including views critical of Israel and/or in support for Palestinian life, dignity, and self-determination. This coercion of Columbia University was accomplished through a sustained campaign threatening and withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to suppress viewpoints the Administration does not like — a process that began with the House Committee on Education and Workforce’s constant threats, harassment, and humiliation of Columbia beginning in late 2023. Columbia University—a school once known for its commitment to free expression—has capitulated to those threats in violation of students’ First Amendment rights.
Khalil and the seven pseudonymous students filed this lawsuit to vindicate their fundamental right to political expression under the First Amendment. The Plaintiffs have asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to enjoin Columbia and the Trump Administration from targeting students for their political expression, and to order Columbia and the Trump Administration to turn over critical records showing their collaboration and coordination in targeting students. The Court’s decision to allow the Plaintiffs claims and requests for relief to move forward already holds enormous significance for students and universities across the United States.
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La misión de CAIR-NY es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT
Afaf Nasher, Esq. CAIR-NY Executive Director, ANasher@cair.com
CAIR-NY Communications Team, comms@ny.cair.com