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.
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.