Quite simply brilliant. I do believe we need to have a clearer understanding, a more definitive approach to our constitutional rights.

Quite frankly, this is the most abused amendment. It's my favorite though.

Easiest to win an argument with, too.

EDIT: I'm glad that the site points out that the Amendments are the acknowledgements of natural rights rather than rights given to us.

The Amendments are to point out where the government cannot interfere, because if you have a government that can give you rights, you have a government that can take them away.

Great post and great read.

The intent of the framers of our constitution seem pretty clear here.

"Unenumerated rights include, for example, the right to privacy. In the America of today, unenumerated rights account for freedoms like a woman's right to abortion."

This article is actually quite wrong. There is no "right to abortion" (there's a "right to choose an abortion", which results in different outcomes in crucially significant ways) and the "right to privacy" that frequently gets bandied about is a shorthand way of referring to other protections afforded by the Constitution. The Ninth Amendment does not enter the legal debate over these issues.

The author does clarify some of these distinctions later in the article (which is just an excerpt of the book, so yes, he may correct himself later), but no amount of spin can create rights out of nothing. At least, not in front of the Supreme Court.

While I don't necessarily agree that it shouldn't inform our debate, as a legal matter resting a so-called "right" on the Ninth Amendment is about as effective as building sandcastles to keep back tidal waves.

Actually, the Ninth Amendment was one that was used by the Justices in the court opinion for Roe v. Wade. I read the opinions and I have no idea how they came to that conclusion, but that's their reasoning.

Don't upvote my comment, because I made this post, but whoever originally tossed up the avatar of the Duke in front of the American flag deserves about 1000 karma, period.

Thanks for letting me use it!