Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Ninth Amendment (Amendment IX) to the United States Constitution addresses rights, retained by the people, that are not specifically enumerated in the Constitution. It is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment was introduced during the drafting of the Bill of Rights when some of the American founders became concerned that future generations might argue that, because a certain right was not listed in the Bill of Rights, it did not exist. However, the Ninth Amendment has rarely played any role in U.S. constitutional law, and until the 1980s was often considered “forgotten” or “irrelevant” by many legal academics.[1][2]

In United Public Workers v. Mitchell the U.S. Supreme Court held that rights contained in the 9th or 10th amendments could not be used to challenge the exercise of enumerated powers by the government: “If granted power is found, necessarily the objection of invasion of those rights, reserved by the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, must fail.” [3][4] Some scholars have taken a different position and challenged the Court’s reasoning,[5] while other scholars have agreed with the Court’s reasoning.[6]

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The amendment, as proposed by Congress in 1789 and later ratified as the Ninth Amendment, reads as follows:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.[7]