Foreword: Children and Constitutions in the Anthropocene Era

In Spring 2025, the Washington and Lee Law Review held its Lara D. Gass Symposium, Children and Constitutions in the Anthropocene Era. It consisted of a keynote address by Julia Olson, Co-Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel of Our Children’s Trust, and three panels: “Children, Climate Change, and State Constitutions”; “The U.S. Constitutions and the Meaning of ‘We the [Young] People’”; and “Youth-Powered Litigation and Global Constitutionalism.” The heavily attended Symposium was a tour-de-force in the field of children’s rights. As climate chaos mounts, young people around the world are pressing courts to reconceptualize the meaning of liberty, equality, and the public trust from the perspective of the planet’s youngest inhabitants and future generations. We are fortunate to have these scholars’ excellent contribution to the 2025 Lara D. Gass Law Review Symposium, and we thank all of the student editors and participants who made it a tremendous success.