Constitution in easy-to-understand language?

Question

I'm mainly looking for Amendment 9, the one that says, "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." I don't really understand what that's saying. If you know or if you know of a website like SparkNotes (which doesn't seem to actually have the Constitution) that has it in "English" that would be very helpful. :-)

Answer 1

The 9th amendment is a catch-all.

In statutory interpretation there is a principle that if the law lists out things that are wrong, then everything else is okay.

The 9th is basically saying, "just because we didn't list it, doesn't mean its not a right"

Answer 2

I always found the ACTUAL Constitution to be the most easily understood language available. The BASIC principle of the ENTIRE constitution is that the PEOPLE grant power to the government. Any power they don't give the government, the PEOPLE still have. The 9th amendment says that just because the Bill of Rights specifically protects certain rights, that does not mean those are the only rights people have. The 10th amendment say much the same from the opposite perspective. It basically says if the Constitution does not say the Federal government can do something, than the Federal government CAN'T do it.

Answer 3

Wikipedia has a really good interpretation of all the amendments.