7 Facts About the Ninth Amendment

The Ninth Amendment is one of ten amendments that comprise the Bill of Rights, which were incorporated into the United States Constitution in 1791. The Bill of Rights was created to defend individual liberty and to limit the power of the federal government.

9th Amendment Simplified:

The simplified version of the 9th Amendment is that just because a specific right is not listed in the Constitution does not mean that that right should be denied to citizens.

The text of the Ninth Amendment reads:

“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

The Ninth Amendment is unique among the amendments in that it does not mention any specific rights.

Conversely, it states that the listing of specific rights in the Constitution should not be interpreted as denying or disparaging other rights that the people retain.

This has resulted in ongoing arguments about the Ninth Amendment’s meaning and scope, as well as its relationship to other constitutional provisions.

Some claim that the Ninth Amendment provides a constitutional foundation for recognizing unspecified rights, while others believe it is mainly redundant in light of the Tenth Amendment.

Regardless matter how it is interpreted, the Ninth Amendment has had a significant impact on American constitutional law and is still a source of legal and scholarly controversy.

9th Amendment Facts

1. It was added as part of the Bill of Rights.

In 1791, the Ninth Amendment was added to the United States Constitution as part of the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights was a set of ten amendments to the original Constitution that were enacted to preserve individual liberties and limit the federal government’s power.

Also Read: Facts About the Eighth Amendment

The Bill of Rights was created in response to concerns that the Constitution did not sufficiently safeguard individual liberty, and it has since become a cornerstone of American constitutional law.

The Ninth Amendment is unique among the amendments in that it does not directly mention any rights, but rather declares that the enumeration of certain rights in the Constitution should not be interpreted as denying or disparaging other rights that the people maintain.

2. The Ninth Amendment was added to the Bill of Rights to protect rights not already listed.

The Ninth Amendment was added to the Bill of Rights in response to concerns that the Constitution, as drafted, did not fully safeguard individual rights.

Also Read: 10th Amendment Facts

Several of the Constitution’s Framers were suspicious of a Bill of Rights, believing that the limited powers assigned to the federal government in the original Constitution would be adequate to guarantee individual liberty.

Yet, some Anti-Federalists who opposed the proposed Constitution claimed that a Bill of Rights was required to defend individual rights and limit the federal government’s power.

The Ninth Amendment was inserted in part to address these concerns and to make it clear that just because certain rights were not directly mentioned in the Constitution did not mean they were not protected.

The Ninth Amendment is sometimes seen as an acknowledgment that the writers of the Constitution acknowledged the existence of un-enumerated rights that were not specifically specified in the document and intended for those rights to be protected as well.

3. It is the only amendment that does not list any actual rights.

The Ninth Amendment is known as the “silent amendment” because it does not explicitly state any rights.

The Ninth Amendment is more abstract and general in nature than the majority of the other amendments in the Bill of Rights, which specifically guarantee individual rights such as free speech or the right to carry weapons.

It merely emphasizes that the listing of specific rights in the Constitution should not be interpreted as denying or disparaging other rights that the people retain.

This has resulted in ongoing discussions about the interpretation and scope of the Ninth Amendment, as well as how courts should interpret it. Several legal experts and judges have suggested that the Ninth Amendment should be utilized to safeguard unspecified rights, such as the right to privacy or control over one’s own body.

Others have claimed that the Ninth Amendment is entirely unnecessary, given the protections already granted by other articles of the Constitution, such as the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

Notwithstanding these disagreements, the Ninth Amendment is an essential element of the American constitutional tradition, and it is frequently referenced in debates over individual rights and government power.

4. The Ninth Amendment has been cited in several Supreme Court rulings.

Several historic Supreme Court cases, notably Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade, have mentioned the Ninth Amendment.

The Court concluded in Griswold that the Constitution protects a right to privacy that is not expressly stated in the constitution. The Court based its decision in part on the Ninth Amendment, reasoning that the amendment demonstrates that the founders of the Constitution meant to safeguard unenumerated rights as well.

Similarly, in Roe v. Wade, the Court cited the Ninth Amendment to argue that the Constitution protects a woman’s right to choose abortion.

The Court argued that the right to privacy guaranteed by the Constitution includes the freedom to make significant decisions regarding one’s own body, and that the Ninth Amendment protects this right.

While the Ninth Amendment is not usually the dominant subject of these cases, its inclusion highlights its significance in establishing American constitutional law.

5. Some opponents claim that the Ninth Amendment is too ambiguous.

Some argue that the Ninth Amendment is essentially unnecessary because the Tenth Amendment already reserves to the states or the people all powers not assigned to the federal government.

The argument is that because the Tenth Amendment provides a general statement that the federal government only has the powers explicitly granted to it by the Constitution, the Ninth Amendment is superfluous because it adds no new protections or limitations beyond what the Tenth Amendment already implies.

Moreover, some opponents claim that the Ninth Amendment is too ambiguous and open-ended to provide courts with substantial direction in interpreting individual rights.

Proponents of the Ninth Amendment, on the other hand, claim that it serves an important purpose by stressing the existence of unnamed rights that should be protected by the courts even if they are not explicitly specified in the Constitution.

The dispute concerning the Ninth Amendment’s purpose and relevance is still ongoing, and the amendment is still the subject of intellectual and judicial debate.

6. The Ninth Amendment can be utilized to argue that the government lacks the authority to deny rights not listed in the Constitution.

While the Ninth Amendment does not explicitly address restricting the government’s power, some legal academics and judges have contended that the amendment functions as a check on government power by safeguarding un-enumerated rights not explicitly specified in the Constitution.

The notion is that if the government tries to limit or deny a basic right not stated in the Constitution, the Ninth Amendment can be utilized to argue that the government lacks the authority to do so.

The Ninth Amendment, by emphasizing that the Constitution does not reject or disparage other rights maintained by the people, might be interpreted as a reminder that the Constitution is not an entire list of individual rights, and that the government must be cautious not to overstep its bounds.

Yet, the specific function of the Ninth Amendment in limiting government power is still being debated, and its practical importance has received significant intellectual and judicial attention.

7. It was once described a “meaningless inkblot” on the Constitution.

Conservative legal scholar and judge Robert Bork referred to the Ninth Amendment in his 1971 article “Neutral Principles and Certain First Amendment Issues” as a “meaningless inkblot” on the Constitution.

Bork contended that the Ninth Amendment was so ambiguous and open-ended that it gave judges no significant direction in interpreting individual rights. Bork argued that the only way to defend individual rights was to rely on certain linguistic provisions of the Constitution, such as the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, which he saw as having a more concrete and defined meaning.

Bork’s criticisms of the Ninth Amendment generated a heated debate among legal experts and judges about the amendment’s purpose and significance in American constitutional law.

While Bork’s views on the Ninth Amendment were not unanimously adopted, his critique did raise crucial problems regarding the amendment’s construction and application that are still being argued today.