"The Constitution can be interpreted in so many ways. And one way is a cramped and narrow way in which the Constitution and the courts essentially become the rubber stamps of the powerful in society. And then there’s another vision of the courts that says the courts are the refuge of the powerless. Because often times they may lose in the democratic back and forth. They may be locked out and prevented from fully participating in the democratic process."

President Barak Obama, 2007

Some attorneys and constitutional experts believe the following scenario is not as far-fetched as it might at first appear:

What if a parent tries to register his or her underage child to vote? This would normally be denied at the local election registry because “that child is not 18 yrs old.”

Hypothetically, that parent could then go to court, alleging that his child is being discriminated against, in contradiction to the equal protection clause contained in the XIV Amendment, because the child is a citizen of the United States, created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights; among them, participation in the legislature, through the vote (“an inestimable right, formidable only to tyrants…” wrote Thomas Jefferson).

Thus might the courts be called to judge on the legality of denying children the right to political representation by preventing them from voting, even before special legislation was presented or passed on the issue.