The ninth amendment was included to
the Bill of Rights to warrant that the maxim expressio unius est exclusio
alterius would not be used at a later time to refute fundamental rights simply
because they were not explicitly enumerated in the Constitution.
The record of the Constitution reveals the function of
the Ninth amendment and the Founders' intent: to defend what constitutional
lawyers describe as the unenumerated rights. Unenumerated rights include, as an
example, the right to privacy. In the USA of today, unenumerated rights include
for freedoms like a woman's right to abortion.
The Ninth amendment goes so far beneath the radar that it has hardly
ever been mentioned even by the Supreme Court. That is why sometimes it
is called the Silent Ninth amendment.
