The Ninth Amendment to the US Constitution protects unenumerated rights not mentioned elsewhere in the Constitution. It supplements the Bill of Rights and protects personal freedoms from state and federal violations. The Supreme Court interprets these rights, but some argue it does not give judges the power to determine them. The amendment was controversial and supported by Hamilton and Madison. The first eight amendments address listed rights, while the Ninth addresses unlisted rights.
The Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects all rights of people that are not specifically mentioned elsewhere in the Constitution. It was part of the original Bill of Rights drafted in 1787 and ratified in 1791. Protected rights are referred to as “unnumbered” rights and include those derived from other legal rights as well as natural, fundamental, and ground rights. Combines with the Tenth Amendment to protect rights and situations not covered by the previous eight amendments.
This amendment is used to protect the citizenry from any expansion of governmental power due to the limited nature of the Bill of Rights. Since every right of the people of the United States could not be mentioned in the Constitution, the Ninth Amendment was added to supplement those already mentioned. The amendment protects many rights implicit in a universal civil code, and those that are linked to other rights already declared. It protects these personal freedoms from state and federal violations.
The Supreme Court is bound by common sense guidance in interpreting the foundations of the rights covered by the amendment. In some cases they have used this to their advantage, declaring people’s actions to be natural, unenumerated rights, such as the right to an abortion in Roe v. Wade. Others, including Supreme Court justices, have argued that the amendment simply prohibits the denial of rights not mentioned in the first amendment. It does not, argued Antonin Scalia in 2000, give judges the power to determine what these additional rights are.
The story of the Ninth Amendment was one of the most controversial of the Bill of Rights. It was strongly supported by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. Several of the ratifying conventions in 1787 proposed allowance for further amendments as the need for additional rights arose, which was implemented. For some, however, this was not enough. Virginia’s ratifying convention attempted to appease Federalists in Hamilton and Madison by proposing an amendment that would have given Congress the power to make exceptions to unlisted rights, but not to extend Congressional powers.
The first eight amendments to the Constitution provide means for Congress to address the listed rights. The Ninth, however, addresses rights that have not been placed in the hands of governments, and these rights have been the subject of many Supreme Court decisions, as well as much discussion of the levels of power and discretion in the highest ranks of the judiciary and executive.
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