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Comment by dragonwriter | Hacker News Reader

> Likewise, just because a right is not enumerated in the Constitution does not mean it is not a constitutional right under the federal constitution.

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

The idea that enumeration of rights would serve as limitations on fundamental rights under the Constitution to those expressly enumerated was a concern with the whole idea of a Bill of Rights that the Ninth Amendment was adopted to resolve.

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I tend to cringe whenever someone invokes the 9th amendment, because it's always used to justify "rights" that whoever is invoking it completely made up. All the 9th amendment says is that the Bill of Rights is a non-exhaustive enumeration. Invoking it is appropriate when someone says: "there is no right to X because it's not in the Constitution." However, it does not help you bootstrap a right that isn't found in the common law, case law, or somewhere else.

Any specific instances of 9th Amendment BSery you can think of?

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninth_Amendment_to_the_United_S....

I tend to take a pretty originalist stance on the 9th. All it means that what the founders would have understood to be the "rights of Englishmen" in 1789 are still the "rights of Americans." In turn, those rights were defined by case law, tradition, and long-standing practice.

Thanks. Yeah, there's the whole English Common Law thing as well.

I got to see one of the exemplifications (as they're called) of the Magna Carta -- apparently a number of abbreviated copies were made, the original is lost. In particular it establishes rule of law (rather than arbitrary decree) and due process. Fairly awesome, in the true meaning of the word, to be in its presence.

That's because the meaning of "right" got subverted. The right used to mean "the government can not prohibit you from doing it" - right to free speech, right to bear arms, right to elect and be elected, right to own property, etc. But these "rights" mean something different entirely - when people say "right to minimal salary" - they do not mean the government should not prohibit you from earning minimal salary. They mean that the government should force your employer to pay you certain amount or fire you. When they say "right to education" they do not mean government can not prevent you from studying. They mean the government should take money from other people and pay for your education (that if they do not support enslaving the educators so that their work for free). When they say "right to housing", they do not mean the government should not remove you from your own house - they mean the government should take houses from other people or take money from other people and build houses using this money and then let you live there. Etc., etc.

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