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

 
Immediately below are links to two friend-of-the-court (amicus curiae) briefs filed with the United States Supreme Court urging the reversal of the Court’s abortion precedents. The arguments in both briefs are grounded in the Ninth Amendment, which the Court has never considered, and each brief’s argument complements that of the other. Click the button to learn more about the Ninth Amendment and its relevance to the Court's abortion precedents from law professor Adam MacLeod, one of the attorneys who filed the amicus brief for state legislators. 
 
The brief filed on behalf of 396 state legislators representing 41 states argues that the Ninth Amendment recognizes that persons have rights that precede the Constitution and such of them as are not enumerated, for example, the fundamental right to life belonging to every natural person (human being), born and unborn, were retained by the people.  The Tenth Amendment authorizes state governments on behalf of the people to secure those rights.

Click Here To View The Brief Filed On Behalf Of State Legislators

The brief filed by FACT’s litigation ally, the Constitutional Government Defense Fund, argues that the Ninth Amendment requires that the Constitution’s words and phrases be interpreted consistent with the common law which served as the basis of the rights human governments are instituted to secure.  Consequently, the Ninth Amendment prohibits the Court from “creating” unenumerated “rights,” disconnected from or contrary to the common law, and using those to deny or disparage the fundamental right to life that was retained by the people.
 
Click Here To View The Brief Filed By CGDF 

Click Here For Commentary on CDGF Brief: "Talking Smack to SCOTUS on Abortion"

Click Here To View The Brief Filed By Mississippi’s Attorney General

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