Ninth Amendment

A Guide to the Ninth Amendment

The Ninth Amendment, or Amendment IX of the United States Constitution is the section of the Bill of Rights that states that there are other rights that may exist aside from the ones explicitly mentioned, and even though they are not listed, it does not mean they can be violated. The Ninth Amendment of the Bill of Rights was put into the United States Constitution on September 5, 1789 and was voted for by 9 out of 12 states on December 15, 1791.

Text of the Ninth Amendment

The text of the Ninth Amendment is very short and states the following:

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

History of the Ninth Amendment

When the United States Constitution was first sent out to the states to be voted on, people known as the Anti-Federalists argued that there should also be a Bill of Rights. However, another group known as the Federalists did not think it was necessary. They worried that putting in the Bill of Rights gave power to the government by specifically discussing what the government could not do.

Because of these debates, the Virginia Ratifying Convention tried to compromise by proposing a constitutional amendment that said that any amendments limiting Congress’ power should not be reason to extend their power. This proposal led to the creation of the Ninth Amendment.

When James Madison introduced the Ninth Amendment to the House of Representatives, he said that this draft was to prevent increasing the power of the government and is put in as a cautionary measure. He felt that the first Eight Amendments talked about how the federal government could exercise its powers, and the Ninth Amendment looked referred to many rights that still could not be taken away by the government.

Modern Use of the Ninth Amendment

Today, the Ninth Amendment is used mainly to stop the government from expanding their power rather than just limiting their power. Sometimes, courts try to use the Ninth Amendment as a way to provide and enforce rights that are not actually talked about in the Constitution.

Facts about the Ninth Amendment

· The Ninth Amendment a part of the Bill of Rights, which were introduced by James Madison.

· There is no evidence about which rights Madison or the other Founding Fathers were talking about when they said there were others that are protected.

· Unlike many of the other amendments in the Bill of Rights, the Ninth Amendment does not actually give any rights, but rather just makes a statement about them.

· The first significant Supreme Court case where the justices considered the Ninth Amendment was Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965 by discussing the right to privacy.