Youth Movement Law: The Case for Interpreting the Constitution with Mobilized Youth

As the threat of authoritarianism continues to rise, legal scholars have looked to more creative interventions to renew a decaying constitution. However, legal scholarship has not yet included the work of youth-led social movements as an interpretive authority to realize, reform, and reimagine the Constitution. Without including these uniquely marginalized and mobilized communities, scholars risk overlooking new possibilities for constitutional change and legitimizing youth suffering under the rule of law. As an intervention, this article makes the case for the methodology of youth movement law by elevating the experience and imagination of historically marginalized youth at the center of the vitriolic culture wars. Drawing on the traditions of movement law, critical legal studies, and youth social movements, this article explores the material limitations of focusing only on court interpretations of constitutional law for marginalized and mobilized youth. Further, the article presents the normative claim that scholars working to stop the rise of authoritarianism should consider youth freedom dreams in tandem with litigation and traditional scholarship. As a case study, this article highlights the material limits of existing jurisprudence for Transgender and Gender Expansive Youth and elevates the freedom dreams of Transgender and Gender Expansive Youth mobilized for change. The article concludes with an invitation to scholars to attend to the bold visions of mobilized and marginalized youth, who imagine a Constitution that abolishes state-sanctioned separation and caging, guarantees the material needs of marginalized youth, and includes youth as coauthors of civic life.