I think you're referring to KAQISTHMI. BAGD defines it as 1) bring,
conduct, take; 2) appoint, put in charge; 3) make, cause (someone to be
something). I suppose "constituted" seems like a sensible enough
translation in some cases, but any of these three definitions seems to
come out about the same: "brought [to the point of being] righteous,"
"appointed [as] righteous," or "made righteous." Number two doesn't
seem to be quite the right force, though, since it carries the idea of
being put in a place of authority, and number one requires inserting a
lot of words, so number three seems to be the most natural rendering.
Incidentally, it seems to include the idea of making or causing someone
to be something, which definitely fits this context. Used in this
sense, then, does "constituted righteous" really say anything different?
Trevor