David Cole on his book, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror. After graduating from Yale Law School, Professor Cole served as a law clerk to Judge Arlin M. Adams of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Professor Cole then became a staff attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights where he litigated a number of major First Amendment cases, including Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989), United States v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 928 (1990), which established that the First Amendment protects flag burning, and National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley, which challenged the constitutionality of content restrictions on federal art funding. 

Cole continues to litigate First Amendment and other constitutional issues as a volunteer staff attorney at the Center.  He has published in a variety of areas, including civil rights, criminal justice, constitutional law and law and literature. He is the legal affairs correspondent for The Nation, a commentator on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and the author of three previous books: Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism; Terrorism and the Constitution: Sacrificing Civil Liberties for National Security (with James X. Dempsey); and No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System.

(c) 2007 The University of Chicago.  Recorded as a part of The World Beyond the Headlines series, a collaborative project of the Center for International Studies, the International House Global Voices Program, and the Seminary Co-op Bookstores. The series aims to bring scholars and journalists together to consider major international issues and how they are covered in the media.

Recorded Wednesday, October 17, 2007 at University of Chicago.