David D. Cole is the National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Before joining the ACLU in July 2016, Cole was the Hon.

George J. Mitchell George John Mitchell Jr. (born August 20, 1933) is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. A leading member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator from Maine from 1980 to 1995, and as Senate Majority Leader from 198 ...

Professor in Law and Public Policy at the Georgetown University Law Center from March 2014 through December 2016. He has published in various legal fields including

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...

national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...

, criminal justice,

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

, and

law and literature The law and literature movement focuses on connections between law and literature. This field has roots in two developments in the intellectual history of law—first, the growing doubt about whether law in isolation is a source of value and mean ...

. Cole has litigated several significant

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

cases in the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, as well a number of influential cases concerning civil rights and national security. He is also a legal correspondent to several mainstream media outlets and publications.

Legal career

Cole graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in 1980 and received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

in 1984. After graduating from law school, Cole served as a law clerk to Judge

Arlin Adams Arlin Marvin Adams (April 16, 1921 – December 22, 2015) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. As late as 2013 he served as counsel to Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP, anwas listedas a ...

of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He then became a staff attorney for the

Center for Constitutional Rights The Center for Constitutional RightsThe Center for Constitutional Rights
(CCR) is a where he litigated a number of major

cases, including ''

Texas v. Johnson ''Texas v. Johnson'', 491 U.S. 397 (1989), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court held, 5–4, that burning the American flag was protected speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution, as do ...

'', 491 U.S. 397 (1989), ''

United States v. Eichman ''United States v. Eichman'', 496 U.S. 310 (1990), was a United States Supreme Court case that invalidated a federal law against flag desecration as a violation of free speech under the First Amendment. It was argued together with the case ''Unite ...

'', 496 U.S. 928 (1990), and ''United States v. Haggerty'' (consolidated with ''Eichman''). He later served as a voluntary staff attorney at the Center, where he also sat on the Board of Directors from 1996 to 2003. After leaving the

Center for Constitutional Rights The Center for Constitutional RightsThe Center for Constitutional Rights
(CCR) is a Georgetown University Law Center. While teaching at Georgetown Law, Cole continued to litigate constitutional law and civil liberties, both at home and abroad. During the 1990s, Cole argued over a dozen cases in various U.S. District and Circuit Courts, and appeared before the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

three times ('' Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation'', 513 U.S. 374 (1995), ''

National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley ''National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley'', 524 U.S. 569 (1998), was a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act, as amended in 199 ...

'', 524 U.S. 569 (1998), and ''Reno v. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee'', 525 U.S. 471 (1999)). Internationally, Cole successfully challenged Ireland's constitutional prohibition on counseling about abortion before the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

in ''Open Door Counselling, Ltd. v. Republic of Ireland'', ECHR Judgment of October 19, 1992, Ser. A, No. 246. He returned to Europe in Fall 2007 to teach at the

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

School of Public Policy and serve as Co-Director of the

Center for Transnational Legal Studies The Center for Transnational Legal Studies (CTLS) is a global educational center for the study of transnational law. The Center was founded in London in October 2008 as an initiative by Georgetown University Law Center, providing educational serv ...

in London from 2008 to 2009. Cole was named Co-Chair of the

Constitution Project The Constitution Project is a non-profit think tank in the United States whose goal is to build bipartisan consensus on significant constitutional and legal questions. Its founder and president is Virginia Sloan. The Constitution Project’s work ...

's Liberty and Security Committee in 2001 and joined the Advisory Committee for the

Free Expression Policy Project The Free Expression Policy Project (FEPP) is an organization devoted to assisting researchers with assembling information related to freedom of speech, media democracy, and copyright, and advocating for these issues. Civil liberties lawyer Marjor ...

in 2003. He has served on boards for a number of public interest organizations including Human Rights Watch Advisory Committee, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, and the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

Standing Committee on Law and National Security. His most recent appearance before the

was in 2010, challenging the First and Fifth Amendment implications of the USA PATRIOT Act's prohibition on providing "material support" to terrorist groups in '' Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project'', 561 U.S. 1 (2010). From 2013 to 2014, Cole was a Fellow with the

Open Society Foundations Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a Grant (money), grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the wo ...

, an international grantmaking network founded by business magnate George Soros that dispenses financial contributions to various

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

political causes in the United States.

Academic career

David Cole was a member of the Georgetown University Law Center faculty from 1990 to 2016. He has also taught at New York University Law School and

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

's School of Public Policy as a visiting scholar. As a professor, Cole's main areas of expertise were

criminal procedure Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail or ...

, and law relating to

United States federal courts The federal judiciary of the United States is one of the three branches of the federal government of the United States organized under the Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution and Law of the United States, laws of the fed ...

. He gained tenure at Georgetown Law in 1994, and was selected as the school's inaugural Hon.

Professor in Law and Public Policy. Cole has written eight books for which he has received numerous awards, including the Palmer Civil Liberties Prize for best book on national security and civil liberties, the American Book Award (2004), and Boston Book Review's Best Non-Fiction Book (1999). His most recent book,
Engines of Liberty: The Power of Citizen Activists to Make Constitutional Law
', was named one of the Washington Post's Notable Nonfiction Books of 2016. In addition to writing, Cole has also lectured and contributed academic articles on related topics including

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...

, domestic drugs policy, the

War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...

, and

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. He has been published in law journals nationwide, including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, and California Law Review. He has also written articles for numerous mainstream publications, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', and the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''.

Media commentary

Cole has been the Legal Affairs Correspondent for ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'' since 1998. He is also a commentator on the

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

program ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'', providing viewpoints from a liberal / progressive perspective, and a contributor to the New York Review of Books. He was interviewed in the 2004 BBC documentary '' The Power of Nightmares - The Rise Of The Politics Of Fear''.

Honors and awards

David Cole has received awards from professional bodies and campaigning groups for his civil rights and civil liberties work, including from the

's Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section, the National Lawyers Guild, the

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) states that it is "the largest Arab American grassroots civil rights organization in the United States." According to its webpage it is open to people of all backgrounds, faiths and ethnicities ...

, and the American Muslim Council. In 2004 he received the William J. Brennan Award from the

Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution devoted solely to the defense of the First Amendment rights guaranteeing freedom of speech and of the press. The center was founded in 1989, un ...

, which cited Cole as "one of the nation's most accomplished advocates for freedom of expression and an outstanding scholar of the First Amendment". In 2013 David Cole also was the first recipient of the ACLU's Norman Dorsen Presidential Prize for academic contributions to civil liberties.

Publications

* * * * * * *

Personal life

Cole is married to former Georgetown Law professor and current D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals judge

Nina Pillard Cornelia Thayer Livingston Pillard (born March 4, 1961), known professionally as Nina Pillard, is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Before becoming a judge, Pillard was a ten ...

. They have two children, Sarah and Aidan Pillard.

References

External links

Georgetown Law Faculty: David D. Cole biography and selected publications

Center for Constitutional Rights

The Nation: articles by David D. Cole

SSRN: articles by David D. Cole

Video: David Cole - Enemy Aliens & Constitutional Freedoms
(February 27, 2007)
Cole article archive
from ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...

'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, David D. 1958 births American Book Award winners American lawyers American legal scholars American legal writers Constitution Project Georgetown University Law Center faculty Living people The Nation (U.S. magazine) people Yale College alumni Yale Law School alumni