The 9th Amendment and rights

Reader comment on: Sowell and Stengel on the Constitution

Submitted by Harry Binswanger (United States), Jun 28, 2011 23:47

Even more important than the 10th Amendment is the 9th, which might have been written just to refute Stengel:

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

The context was that the enumeration of rights in the Bill of Rights might be taken, many thought, to imply that government could do anything it wasn't specifically prohibited in them from doing. The 9th Amendment set that straight: government could do only that which it was specifically empowered to do. And what the document empowers it to do is to protect individual rights.


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Other reader comments on this item

Title By Date
⇒ The 9th Amendment and rights [104 words]Harry BinswangerJun 28, 2011 23:47
Contradiction [59 words]RichHJun 28, 2011 20:02
Contradiction indeed [34 words]Harry BinswangerJun 29, 2011 10:14
Sowell vs. Stengel [10 words]ChrisCJun 28, 2011 13:55

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