Jameel Jaffer

Jameel Jaffer, born in 1971, is a distinguished Canadian attorney specializing in human rights and civil liberties. He currently serves as the inaugural director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, an organization dedicated to safeguarding the freedoms of speech and the press in the digital era. The Institute is known for its strategic litigation, research, and public education efforts, and it gained significant attention for successfully challenging President Trump's practice of blocking critics on Twitter.

Before his tenure at the Knight Institute, Jaffer held the position of Deputy Legal Director at the American Civil Liberties Union. In this capacity, he was instrumental in litigating Freedom of Information Act requests that uncovered critical documents related to the torture of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and CIA black sites. His efforts led to the release of significant materials, including interrogation directives signed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and emails from FBI agents who witnessed the inhumane treatment of prisoners.

Among the revelations were autopsy reports of individuals who died in U.S. custody and legal memos from the Office of Legal Counsel that controversially suggested that certain