Trump says Constitution lets him do 'whatever I want as president.' On Constitution Day, students learn otherwise.

In July, President Donald Trump said he believes the U.S. Constitution gives him "the right to do whatever I want as president." On Constitution Day, students learn otherwise.

Constitution Day - Sept. 17 - is when students at all grade levels learn through lessons, speeches, debates and other activities what the country's foundational document says about presidential and other powers. Sept. 17 was chosen because it is the day when, in 1787, 39 delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia signed the final version of the newly written document. (It did not become law until 1789, after ratification by the states.)

In 2004, Congress voted to require all schools that receive federal funding and all federal agencies offer some type of "educational program" on the Constitution (although it does not define what those lessons should be - and there is no enforcement mechanism).

For Constitution Day 2019, Trump and the First Amendment are the focus in many classrooms and lecture halls - including a debate on whether the president should be impeached.

Academics are giving lectures on Trump, including one titled, "The Oligarch's Road: Presidential Power and the Separation of Powers in the Trump Era," being delivered at the University of Pittsburgh's law school by Georgetown University law Professor Victoria Nourse.

Nourse said she chose the topic so students can understand Trump's exercise of power as president "is not normal."

"The president is attempting to ignore all constitutional checks against his behavior, from the Supreme Court's established law, from within his own administration . . . and from Congress," she said in an email. "If a president can successfully surmount all of these structural checks, then he can simply set up his own set of cronies to rule. Hence, the 'Oligarch's Road.' "

At Princeton University, conservative writer George F. Will was to speak on the topic. The title of his address: "Is Constitution Day Unconstitutional?" It is an issue that has been debated by constitutional experts for years. A Sept. 17, 2011, opinion article in The New York Times by Kent Greenfield, a Boston College law professor, says:

"Ironically, Constitution Day is probably unconstitutional. One liberty the Constitution protects is the right of individuals and institutions not to applaud it. The laudable message that Congress wanted to send - our Constitution should be celebrated - is muddled by its method of mandatory commemoration. The mandate violates the academic freedom of the targeted institutions."

Trump made his "whatever I want" comments on July 23 while addressing teenagers and young adults at the Turning Point USA Teen Student Action Summit in Washington. He was criticizing the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election led by Robert Mueller, who was special counsel. "Then, I have an Article II, where I have to the right to do whatever I want as president," he said. "But I don't even talk about that."

Students who study the Constitution learn that Article II, Section 1 does not, in fact, give the president unlimited power. It grants the president "executive power" but also says Congress has oversight responsibilities, including over the office of the presidency, and it details how a president can be removed.

At Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Constitution Day activities were to include a debate between Professor Randall Auxier and Murphysboro Mayor Will Stephens on this topic: "Impeach Trump."

When Congress established its Constitution Day mandate, some critics argued it was unnecessary: Students, they said, should be learning about the Constitution and its meaning in American democracy throughout the year. Still, K-12 teachers use Constitution Day for special activities - debates and plays - for a focused look at the country's founding document.

The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia launched Tuesday the Interactive Constitution: Classroom Edition, a major initiative to give teachers nonpartisan constitutional resources to educate their students. The Classroom Edition adds education materials to the Interactive Constitution already on the center's website and includes a platform that allows classrooms from across the country to connect and discuss the Constitution. It is moderated by judges and teachers.

The center is the only nonprofit institution established by Congress to "disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a nonpartisan basis in order to increase the awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people." It saw new interest among Americans in learning about the Constitution after the election of Trump as he challenges constitutional norms in unprecedented ways.

The center's Constitution Day theme this year is the First Amendment, which is what students in the government classes of Nick Hegge of Logan View Public School in Hooper, Nebraska, are discussing over the center's new platform with students in Illinois and Pennsylvania. Students in the AP Government classes of Tim Rodman at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Maryland, were also using the center's new platform Tuesday, talking with classes in South Carolina and Ohio.

"This is another tool to teach the Constitution and the First Amendment that allows students to get really excited about the possibility of having a conversation with someone from somewhere else in the country," Hegge said. "That gets them a little more engaged in this knowledge than they might have been without it."

Students who study the Constitution, he said, learn "just how much the Constitution has to do in our daily lives."

"They know it's our governing document, but when they look into the freedom of speech issue, they start to realize how much there is there. The more they dig, the more engaged and informed they become," he said.

Rodman said students just starting to learn about the First Amendment probably "look at it as a bunch of freedoms lumped together." But, he said, "as we peel back the onion, they see there is a lot more to it."