The 9th amendment is more than the heart of privacy in the constitution. It is the heart of individual autonomy, and adulthood.
It is the barrier to a constant creep of government into territory that belongs to the person. It is not properly ignored. It is not a legal joke.
It is real, and it means what it says.
Retained by the people.
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Argh. I really have to give up this wireless keyboard.
Amendment IX: Existence of other rights for the people.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Now no one has to go look it up and be further exposed to the whole concept of individual liberty.
Also, is it the tenth amendment that says all powers not explicitly given to Congress in the Constitution shall automatically be reserved for the state and local governments? I think the state's rights movement is starting to build momentum again, this time unfettered by the issue of slavery that sullied the South in the 19th century. We shouldn't write the Confederacy off entirely because of slavery...they had some very real grievances against the Federal government and so do Americans all across the nation today.
Look at the voting.
One has to wonder what kind of person votes against their own constitutional rights.