Donald Trump's policies, from his travel ban to his approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline, have prompted an immediate response from concerned liberals. Yet what effect can protest truly have in the face of the awesome power of the executive branch? Do everyday citizens have a role in safeguarding our Constitution? Or must we rely on the federal courts, and the Supreme Court above all, to protect our dearly held rights?
In Engines of Liberty, the esteemed legal scholar David Cole argues that we all have a part to play in the grand civic dramas of our era. Examining the most successful rights movements of the last 30 years, he reveals how groups of ordinary Americans have worked together to defend and expand our civil liberties. The lesson of the fight for marriage equality is the value of strategy of state-level activism. In the NRA's successful efforts to swing elections and influence state and federal law, we can see the power of groups that build loyal, active, and uncompromising memberships. The fight for human rights during the Iraq war illustrates how activist groups can encourage foreign populations and governments to challenge the president when our domestic institutions fail to.
In a new Introduction written for the paperback edition, Cole urges us to view these past efforts as a blueprint for activism in our own era. From travel rights to protections for transgender students, and from voting rights to environmental issues, Engines of Liberty is an essential guidebook for concerned citizens seeking to defend the law of the land.
From the national legal director of the ACLU, an essential guidebook on standing up for fundamental civil liberties and resisting executive overreach -- named one of Washington Post's Notable Nonfiction Books of the Year
What role do American citizens have in safeguarding our Constitution and defending liberty? Must we rely on the federal courts, and the Supreme Court above all, to protect our rights? In Engines of Liberty, the esteemed legal scholar David Cole argues that we all have a part to play in the grand civic dramas of our era -- and proposes specific tactics for fighting Donald Trump's policies.
Examining the most successful rights movements of the last thirty years, Cole reveals how groups of ordinary Americans confronting long odds have managed, time and time again, to convince the courts to grant new rights and protect existing ones. Engines of Liberty is a fundamentally new explanation of how our Constitution works and the part citizens play in it.
