Baby Ninth Amendments, How Americans Embraced Unenumerated Rights and Why It Matters

Author

Sanders; Anthony B.

Year

2023

Publisher

University of Michigan Press

Language

English

Pages

ISBN

978-0-47207-615-4

Link

Last Update

20-May-2026

Keywords

Political Science ; American Studies ; Law

Description

Baby Ninth Amendments did not emerge fully formed from a constitutional version of Zeus’s head. A long series of historical building blocks were required before the idea of protecting unenumerated rights with an “etcetera clause” came into being. The Baby Ninths not only first needed the federal Ninth Amendment to survive spirited debate and ratification, but a series of antecedents had to be invented before they could make their way into the American constitutional milieu. This included state constitutions, judicial review, and the emergence of a mysterious set of Tenth Amendment siblings.

States have had constitutions since before the U.S....