The 9th and 10th Amendments to the Constitution both make clearer the rights of individuals. They are both part of the Bill of Rights and play a crucial role in defining individual rights and the balance of power between the federal government and the states. The 9th Amendment addresses rights that may not be specifically identified in other parts of the Constitution, and the 10th Amendment clarifies the division of rights by the federal and state governments.

The framers of the Constitution recognized that it was impossible to list every single fundamental right a person should have. The 9th Amendment acts as a safeguard against the potential misuse of a limited list of rights, preventing the argument that rights not listed simply don’t exist.

Thanks to Madison’s 9th Amendment, the Constitution establishes a “safety net” to recognize rights retained by the people that are not enumerated in the Constitution such as the rights to privacy, to marry, to travel, to vote, and to make decisions about one’s health. It states: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

The 9th Amendment has been influential in landmark Supreme Court cases, especially those dealing with the right to privacy. In Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), the Court recognized a right to marital privacy, and this was expanded upon in Roe v. Wade (1973).

The 9th Amendment is often seen as a companion to the 10th Amendment, which addresses the division of power between the federal government and the states. It explicitly states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

The 10th Amendment expresses the principle of federalism, whereby the federal government and the individual states share power.

Some of the most cited states’ rights are the governance of education, running elections, creating marriage laws, licensing professionals (such as teachers, doctors, lawyers), maintaining public safety, and establishing local governments. States are prohibited from usurping federal government rights of entering into treaties, declaring war, coining money, and infringing on certain individual rights protected by the Bill of Rights.

One Supreme Court case citing the 10th Amendment is Brown v. Board of Education (1954) when the Supreme Court unanimously declared racial segregation of children in public schools unconstitutional. Another would be Loving v. Virginia (1967), a landmark decision that invalidated state laws prohibiting interracial marriage.

The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution (Article VI) establishes that federal law generally takes precedence over conflicting state laws.

The federal government does have a system to encourage cooperation by the states. This system, known as cooperative federalism, seeks to exercise powers by withholding federal funding. One example of this is that federal educational funds may not be accepted without implementation of special education programs in compliance with IDEA.

The Constitution is a living document and is interpreted by the Judicial Branch of our government. Wisely, the founders wrote the Bill of Rights to ensure it could adapt to changes throughout history and still retain the purpose of guaranteeing freedoms for individuals. The 9th and 10th Amendments, as the final parts of the Bill of Rights, protect individual rights and preserve state powers in the United States Constitution.

Joy Cowdery is a member of Living Democracy: Engaging Citizens, a local citizen group.

Our mission is to inform and educate the Mid-Ohio Valley about how government works on the local, state and federal levels and how citizens can be involved to make our democracy work. Join us the third Monday of each month, 3:30 at the Armory. livingdemocracymov@gmail.com and facebook/speak foryourselfvote and Youtube channel Living Democracy.