[INGSOCIALITE]

the constitution is such a simple document that's been blown out of proportion. it's not a document telling citizens what their rights are or what they can or can't do, it's a document telling the government as a whole what IT can or can't do. the amendments limit the governments reach, not limiting the people.

[skybrian]

Restricting governments from doing things is how legal rights work. That’s what legal rights are for - they are justifications that win in court, such as in a dispute with the government. And hopefully outside the courtroom too. So it does tell people “what their rights are.”

[samatman]

It tells people what some of their rights are. We have an entire Amendment to make it clear that the enumerated Constitutional rights are not intended to be read to mean that no other rights exist.

[skybrian]

Yes, that’s true, but they aren’t constitutional rights, and the Ninth Amendment doesn’t say which rights those are, either. We had a dramatic example recently of how an unenumerated right can become insecure in practice against restrictions by state governments.

One interpretion of the Ninth Amendment is that it allows (but doesn’t require) the states and the judiciary system to protect additional rights.

[benkuykendall]

> The amendments limit the governments reach, not limiting the people.

Well... other than the 18th Amendment.