Constitutionalism in the United States

For a general overview, see constitutionalism.

Constitutionalism in the United States is a basic value espoused by political parties, activist groups and individuals across a wide range of the political spectrum, that the powers of federal, state and local governments are limited by the Constitution of the United States and that the civil and political rights of citizens shall not be violated. ^[1] As of 2025, constitutionalism has moved to the right.

21 st century

As a political movement in the 21 st century, constitutionalists have expressed concern over provisions of the 2001 USA Patriot Act, ^[2] civil asset forfeiture laws, ^[3] mass surveillance, ^[4] police checkpoints ^[5] and militarization of police, ^{[6] [7]} while differing over other issues, such as restrictions on firearms, ^{[8] [9]} states' rights to determine drug ^[10] and restroom laws, ^[11] and federal management of public lands to allow more oil drilling. ^[12]

Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget under Donald Trump has advanced a position of what he calls "radical constitutionalsm". He has stated the essence is "[t]he Right needs to throw off the precedents and legal paradigms that have wrongly developed over the last two hundred years and to study carefully the words of the Constitution and how the Founders would have responded in modern situations to the encroachments of other branches." ^[13]

See also

• Alliance Defending Freedom
• American Civil Liberties Union
• Center for Constitutional Rights
• Constitutional militia movement
• Drug Policy Alliance
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• National Coalition Against Censorship
• National Rifle Association
• New York Civil Liberties Union
• Rutherford Institute
• United States Bill of Rights

References

1. "Constitutionalism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
2. "Conservatives, liberals align against Patriot Act". The Washington Times. June 14, 2005.
3. Jennifer Rubin (July 20, 2017). "Right and left unite against Jeff Sessions's latest outrage". The Washington Post.
4. Spencer Ackerman and Sabrina Siddiqui (May 18, 2015). "NSA surveillance opposed by American voters from all parties, poll finds". The Guardian.
5. "Excerpts From Supreme Court's Decision Upholding Sobriety Checkpoints". New York Times. June 15, 1990.
6. "War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Police". ACLU. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
7. Grace Ditzler (November 21, 2016). "Hundreds protest Spokane Co. Sheriff's Office". KXLY.
8. Nelson Lund and Adam Winkler. "The Second Amendment". National Constitutional Center. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
9. Suzanne Ito (July 1, 2008). "Heller Decision and the Second Amendment". American Civil Liberties Union.
10. Digby (April 10, 2014). "Tea Party's reefer hypocrisy: Why "states' rights" is a situational sham". Slate.
11. Dean Reynolds (April 13, 2016). "Who's behind the new LGBT bathroom laws?". CBS News.
12. "Western states demand feds return public land amid clamor for more drilling". Fox News. March 27, 2012.
13. "Renewing American Purpose". The American Mind. Retrieved 2025-02-13.