Throughout the campaign Democrats piously invoked the Constitution as a reason to oppose Donald Trump, calling for conservatives and independents to put aside policy concerns and work with them in defending our nation’s foundational charter. Now is a chance for progressives, if truly worried about Donald Trump, to join in defending the limits our Constitution places on governmental power.

In particular, that means progressives need to start embracing two pillars of the Constitution: federalism’s division of power between the states and federal government, and the separation of powers that limits the policy-making discretion of the presidency.

At least one prominent Democrat, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, has already observed, “we intend to stand with states across our nation to defend our Constitution and uphold the rule of law. Federalism is the cornerstone of our democracy. It’s the United STATES of America.”

Such an argument is welcome to conservatives, but hostile to almost a century of progressive disregard for the Constitution’s limits. Law professors, members of Congress, progressive pundits, and others have declared that rather than be bound by old-fashioned constraints on federal power, Americans should instead defer to a “living Constitution” of incredible flexibility. Thus, they........

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