What does the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution mean?

Question

In simplest words, please! All I've been able to find are long, complecated answers. I really don't understand what it means.

"The enumeration in the Constitution, of ceratin rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage other retained by the people."

Answer 1

The 9th Amendment is simply a statement that other rights aside from those listed may exist, and just because they are not listed doesn't mean they can be violated.

Answer 2

These Amendments, the Ninth and Tenth Amendments are the 'essential keys' necessary for the operation of our Constitution, these are the mobility elements.


The Ninth Amendment creates individual rights inferior to the rights of the People such as the right and responsibility to establish justice and to provide for the general defense. It is here that 'free' is defined ethically, legally, as under the law we are allowed to do equally. Free doesn't mean another thing.


The Tenth Amendment does to the State and Federal systems what the Ninth Amendment does to the individual's rights creating an inferior State and Federal system insuring the right's and responsibility's of the people to persevere. It is here that unconstitutionality is created and constitutionality is mandated. These Amendment's authorities are the essence of our home.

Answer 3

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

The Ninth Amendment to the Constitution does not specifically identify any individual rights like the eight amendments that precede it, rather the Ninth Amendment sets forth a rule of construction that is to guide one when interpreting the Constitution. It makes the drafter's intent clear that the enumeration of certain rights in the body of the Constitution1 or in the Amendments thereto shall not be considered to be exhaustive or all inclusive, but rather illustrative. Moreover, when read in conjunction with the Tenth Amendment2 the principal of individual sovereignty and a limited government of delegated powers is firmly established. Therefore the Ninth Amendment, when interpreted in accordance with the Tenth Amendment, should be read as establishing a rule of construction that demonstrates that the Constitution, as a whole, should be construed to mean that the people retain all powers (i.e. right or authority) not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor delegated to their respective State governments by the several State Constitutions.

Answer 4

The ninth amendment states:
"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people".

The Ninth Amendment to the Constitution does not specifically identify any individual rights like the eight amendments that precede it, rather the Ninth Amendment sets forth a rule of construction that is to guide one when interpreting the Constitution.

Answer 5

The purpose of the Ninth Amendment is parallel to that of the Tenth Amendment -- especially the last four words of the Tenth.

Both the Ninth and Tenth Amendments mean that the federal government cannot do what it was not authorized by the U.S. Constitution to do. The people who proposed and ratified the Constitution (before any amendments were proposed) granted to the federal government only certain powers. The reason that "the people" "retain" rights that the Constitution does not mention is because the powers of the federal government are limited. "All is retained which has not been surrendered." When a person is challenging a federal law and making the claim that the law violates his/her "rights," that person does not have to prove that the "right" they are talking about is a right mentioned by the Constitution. The burden is on the federal government to prove that it does have authority to make that law.

See the opinions by certain Justices in the case of Griswold v. Connecticut -- in particular compare Justice Goldberg's concurring opinion to Justice Black's dissent. Lancelot's quotation above was from Goldberg's opinion in that case.

Answer 6

The Ninth Amendment sets individual rights inferior to the rights of the people allowing the rights of the people to persevere.

Answer 7

It just means that it's not an all-inclusive lists. It reserves the rights to the people and the states to from time to time enumerate more rights.

For instance, the right to privacy is stated nowhere in the Constitution, however the Court has decided that a right to privacy is inherent in the Constitution, at least partially basing their decision on the 9th amendment.

This is a pretty easy site, hope it helps.

http://www.jimloy.com/issues/privacy.htm

Answer 8

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What does the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution mean?
In simplest words, please! All I've been able to find are long, complecated answers. I really don't understand what it means.

"The enumeration in the Constitution, of ceratin rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage other retained by the people."

Answer 9

"The Framers did not intend that the first eight amendments be construed to exhaust the basic and fundamental rights.... I do not mean to imply that the .... Ninth Amendment constitutes an independent source of rights protected from infringement by either the States or the Federal Government....While the Ninth Amendment - and indeed the entire Bill of Rights - originally concerned restrictions upon federal power, the subsequently enacted Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the States as well from abridging fundamental personal liberties. And, the Ninth Amendment, in indicating that not all such liberties are specifically mentioned in the first eight amendments, is surely relevant in showing the existence of other fundamental personal rights, now protected from state, as well as federal, infringement."



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Answer 10

If I say that you have the right to free speech, etc, it doesn't
mean that by not listing some other right (say, the right to
drive your motorcycle in the rain) that you don't have it.

That is, "if something isn't listed here, then that just means it
isn't listed here. It doesn't mean that you don't have this
right..."

Note, however, that it doesn't mean that you have all rights
unless it specifically says you don't ... the congress shall have
the power to create laws, etc.

We are not in the middle of a Monty Python sketch.
Not everything that is not forbidden is manditory!