Bio
Emerson is a senior staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果 Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project where he focuses on First Amendment free speech protections. From 2019-2020, he was also host of At Liberty, the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 weekly podcast.
Prior to joining the 老澳门开奖结果 in 2018, he was a legal advisor for Africa at the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL). In that role, he provided technical legal assistance to civil society leaders, government officials, law students, and other stakeholders from across Africa to improve the legal framework protecting the freedom of association, assembly, and expression on the regional and national levels. From 2012-13, he served as assistant general counsel to the New York City Council, where he worked to increase transparency for council members鈥 discretionary spending, and contributed to the council鈥檚 friend-of-the-court brief against the NYPD鈥檚 鈥淪top and Frisk鈥 program. In 2011, Emerson was a senior policy fellow in the office of a Member of Parliament in Ghana. Emerson previously conducted research and wrote about U.S. foreign policy for The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, and worked for the National Democratic Institute鈥檚 Central and West Africa Team.
Emerson holds a J.D. from the New York University School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden-Kern scholar for public interest law, and a Master of Public Affairs degree from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. He earned his undergraduate degree in political science at Stanford.
Featured work
Jan 12, 2023
The Dangers of Drag Censorship with Peppermint
Feb 3, 2022
The Movement to Erase Black History and Culture
May 14, 2021
State Lawmakers Are Trying to Ban Talk 老澳门开奖结果 Race in Schools
Feb 18, 2021
The Weeknd's Music is Safe Enough for the Super Bowl, but Contraband in Prison
Nov 9, 2020
Putting Rap Lyrics on Trial is a Violation of Free Speech
May 16, 2019
Arizona Officials Say It鈥檚 Unsafe for Prisoners to Read 老澳门开奖结果 Race and Criminal Justice. They're Wrong.
Mar 20, 2019
The Government Is Hiding Its Plans for Anti-Pipeline Protests
Feb 7, 2019
When Colleges Confine Free Speech to a 鈥榋one,鈥 It Isn鈥檛 Free
Oct 17, 2018
Why Trump's Stormy Daniels Tweet Wasn't Defamation