Annual Distinguished Lecture Featuring David Cole, National Legal Director of the ACLU
Boston University School of Law
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Barristers Hall
12:45 pm – 2:00 pm
The Annual Distinguished Lecture will be held on Thursday, April 11th, 2019 featuring David Cole, the National Legal Director of the ACLU. The Title of this talk is “Preserving Liberty in the Trump Era: Lessons from the Legal Resistance.”
Shortly after President Trump was elected, the ACLU told President Trump, “We’ll see you in court.” It warned that if he tried to implement the unconstitutional and illegal initiatives he had promised on the campaign trail, the ACLU would resist. Since then, the ACLU has filed more than 200 Trump-related legal actions, and as won injunctions against a host of Trump’s initiatives. It obtained the first injunction against the Muslim ban, successfully challenged the DHS “family separation” policy, freed a US citizen held as an “enemy combatant” without charges, and blocked an anti-abortion policy. But it hasn’t merely sued the president. It has also launched a grassroots arm, and engaged citizens directly in the defense of liberty. Drawing on lessons from sources as diverse as the NRA and advocates for marriage equality, David Cole, the ACLU’s National Legal Director, will discuss how all of us can play a part in standing up in defense of liberty—and why that is, in the end, our best hope.