Ninth Amendment

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

This amendment states that there are laws not specifically listed in the constitution that are still rights granted to citizens. This amendment is similar to the elastic clause because it guarantees rights not specifically listed in the constitution. It has been used in conjunction with other amendments to approve a right in various court cases.

Below is a video about one such case in which the ninth amendment was used: Griswold v Conneticut. In this case the supreme court ruled on our rights to contraceptives as an expansion of our rights to privacy.



This video was created in 1948 when the United Nations proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Many of these rights may not be specifically listed in the Constitution but that does not mean we do not have them as this amendment says.