NEWTOWN CONNECTICUT UNITED STATES 20250405 AntiTrump protester holds a sign defending the constitution and social… SOPA Images / Getty Images
Teen Vogue
Politics
The Trump Administration Is Violating the Constitution. This Legal Theory Can Help Us Move Forward.
This op-ed explains the concept of “popular constitutionalism.” By Molly Coleman, June 4, 2025
In the coming months, the Supreme Court is likely to release decisions in a number of cases that will fundamentally impact the lives of millions. But we don’t need to wait until nine elite lawyers in robes weigh in to know some basics about our rights and freedoms here in the US.
For example, we know that stripping people born in the United States of their citizenship, as the Trump administration has proposed doing, is unconstitutional. It’s right there in the Fourteenth Amendment: All persons born in the United States “are citizens of the United States.” You don’t need to be a Supreme Court justice to understand what that means. You don’t even need a law degree to know without a doubt that the Constitution makes it clear that people born in the United States are citizens from birth.
You also don’t need to be a lawyer to say that the separation of church and state guaranteed by the First Amendment means that parents shouldn’t be able to use their religion to justify banning books from schools with LGBTQ+ characters
