The national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union said the responsibility of advocating for civil liberties falls on everyone, not just public officials, at an event Tuesday.

David Cole’s talk, titled “We’ll See You in Court: The Defense of Liberty in the Era of Trump,” was the 28th annual Richard W. Leopold Lecture. Cole spoke in Cahn Auditorium to more than 100 people about the opportunity to use the present “threat in Donald Trump” as a motivator to increase political activism.

“The ultimate defenders of liberty are not the formal structures of government,” Cole said. “They’re not even the courts. They are us. They are all of us.”

Cole said it was important to have a system of checks and balances that come from informal institutions such as the press and nonprofit advocacy groups. These communities are a “critical resource” in advocating for civil liberties, he said.

Weinberg senior Mariel Soto Reyes, who attended the lecture, told The Daily she’s still nervous for what will happen to civil liberties in the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term. She said she appreciated Cole’s optimism for the continuation of civil liberty advocacy during the current political era.

“I always find it interesting and also somewhat inspiring to see how people are capable of turning even the darkest of situations into a positive,” Soto Reyes said. “I guess the result is people are banding together to make an impact in a big way.”

Cole added that both liberal and conservative groups responded to threats toward their civil rights after Trump’s election by mobilizing to influence constitutional law. For example, he said National Rifle Association members are always ready to take action and protect their gun rights.

Evanston resident Virginia Carr, a gun control advocate, told The Daily she saw how large numbers of people who consistently support the same issues can generate change. She said her church advocated for responsible gun laws in 2000, but it was an isolated event that didn’t continue the following year.

“It can’t just be a demonstration one time,” Carr said. “It’s got to involve constantly doing something … to show that there are more of us than (NRA members).”

ACLU membership has increased from 400,000 to 1.6 million since January, Cole said. He said he sees this increase as an indication people want to “engage in a fight” to protect their civil rights.

Cole added that he believes the nation can use the present state of the political world to protect these liberties, seeing this as a time for growth.

“Ten years from now,” Cole said, “(We might) come together and look back on this time as a dark time, a time when we had a president who seemed to show little respect for and understanding of even basic constitutional norms, civil rights and civil liberties, but (also) a time that affected the transformation in American politics.”

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