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9th Amendment of the U. S. Constitution, what does it mean? I have never looked at it real close because I don’t understand it. I think the 9th Amendment is one that is misunderstood therefore overlooked.

Amendment 9 - Construction of Constitution. Ratified 12/15/1791.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or
disparage others retained by the people.

Some enlightenment here: http://www.randybarnett.com/rightsbypeople.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What do you think?

The Constitution names certain rights, such as speech, religion, assembly, etc., which are protected.

The ninth amendment makes it clear that other rights that are not named are also protected. These include the rights to marry, have children, own property, work, make contracts, and travel.

The spirit of this amendment is often ignored when people point to the enumerated rights as more sacred than rights that are not named. If you look at the history of the bill of rights, the enumerated rights (along with habeus corpus) are the rights that the U.K. most often violated, leading up to the American Revolution.

This amendment was thought necessary when the bill of rights was ratified. It has never been much practical use. For example, there was no right to vote in the original constitution. Most states limited the franchise to white male property owners over the age of 21. A few over the years allowed women or other groups to vote.

The Supreme Court ignored the ninth and tenth amendments starting after the 1930s and has upheld practically every action of the federal government by using the commerce clause or later amendments.

- Jim

The Constitution, while establishing the federal government, was a limiting document - limiting the powers granted to the federal government to the ones enumerated. They didn't want the same line of thought to be twisted when looking at the Bill of Rights where some favoring tyranny of the government would say only those rights stated and discretely identified are held by the people. The 9th Amendment was supposed to prevent that.

It's not hard to figure out why the 9th and 10th Amendments are not known or mostly swept under the rug when you consider the leanings of the media and education system (in general). The government, by it's nature in a position of power, would obviously tend to ignore limits on its own power.

Oh..I see..Now, I understand. Thanks for the article and responses!..I have the idea. :)