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.