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Your Favorite Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Favorite Amendment

  • One from the Bill of Rights

    Votes: 18 81.8%

  • One between 11th and 15th

    Votes: 3 13.6%

  • 17th

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 19th, 24th, 26th

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 25th

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 21st (Alcoholics please choose this option)

    Votes: 1 4.5%

  • 27th (Congressional representatives pick this option)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    22
EpicDude86

EpicDude86

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What is your favorite amendment, and why? Try and keep the political bias to a minimum if possible. :D

I tried to quickly lump like amendments together to save on space. Didn't really have to but, either way just explain your vote or define specifically which one you like.

My Choice: 1st and Finest. Freedom-o-Spaking.
 
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9th Amendment

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

A nice catch all amendment for the rest of our rights that weren't listed in the Constitution.

The problem is, it's pretty much ignored at all levels of government and these rights are routinely denied or severely restricted.

Some jurists have asserted that the Ninth Amendment is relevant to interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Arthur Goldberg (joined by Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justice William Brennan) expressed this view in a concurring opinion in the case of Griswold v. Connecticut (1965):

The Framers did not intend that the first eight amendments be construed to exhaust the basic and fundamental rights.... I do not mean to imply that the .... Ninth Amendment constitutes an independent source of rights protected from infringement by either the States or the Federal Government....While the Ninth Amendment - and indeed the entire Bill of Rights - originally concerned restrictions upon federal power, the subsequently enacted Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the States as well from abridging fundamental personal liberties. And, the Ninth Amendment, in indicating that not all such liberties are specifically mentioned in the first eight amendments, is surely relevant in showing the existence of other fundamental personal rights, now protected from state, as well as federal, infringement.
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CrusaderRabbit08 said:
9th Amendment

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

A nice catch all amendment for the rest of our rights that weren't listed in the Constitution.

The problem is, it's pretty much ignored at all levels of government and these rights are routinely denied or severely restricted.
Click to expand...

Gotta appreciate the 9th.
 
2nd Amendment – The only practical mends to resist tyranny.
 
1st Amendment. Freedom of speech and the press, and the separation of church and state all in one. It doesn't get any better than that.
 
19th, 24th, 26th??

Women's right to vote - yes, of course.

But why group this with the 24th and 26th?

I guess I support that there's no poll tax . . . but I question whether there should be an age-line qualification for voting. (I think it should be based on proven merit or knowledge rather than an age issue)
 
Many of the amendments are awesome. But I'd have to take the bill of rights, the whole lot of them, as they mark some of the most obvious and important of our rights. If only the government understood the 9th and 10th.
 
The second amendment. As others stated something to deter tyranny with.
 
The NEXT one, the one that says that politicians gets no benefits that are not affordable to the general public, that indexes their pay to minimum wage, and that holds them criminally responsible for misuse of their authority in a way that betrays the public trust.
 
CrusaderRabbit08 said:
9th Amendment

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

A nice catch all amendment for the rest of our rights that weren't listed in the Constitution.

The problem is, it's pretty much ignored at all levels of government and these rights are routinely denied or severely restricted.
Click to expand...

I do not think the 9th is a "just in case we forgot to list something else as a right" seeing how rights can always be added with another amendment. I think it means Your rights can not be used to deny others their rights that are listed in the constitution. For example my right to 2nd amendment rights can not be used to deny you your right to free speech,freedom of religion and so on. Basically one right can not be used to trample or suppress another right. Rights retained by the people would be those enumerated in the constitution.
 
This poll is discriminatory.

It's not allowing the socialists to vote for #16.
 
CrusaderRabbit08 said:
9th Amendment

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

A nice catch all amendment for the rest of our rights that weren't listed in the Constitution.

The problem is, it's pretty much ignored at all levels of government and these rights are routinely denied or severely restricted.
Click to expand...
Thats because it recognizes that there are other rights, but it does not prescribe a particular protection for them.
 
"I plead the 3rd. I have few principles, but I stick to them"

XKCD
 
10th Amendment. Not because it's the most important, but because it's the most neglected and thus it is the most necessary to educate people about and put more focus on. Unfortunately a huge portion of what the Federal government does today pretty clearly violates the 10th Amendment.
 
jamesrage said:
I do not think the 9th is a "just in case we forgot to list something else as a right" seeing how rights can always be added with another amendment. I think it means Your rights can not be used to deny others their rights that are listed in the constitution. For example my right to 2nd amendment rights can not be used to deny you your right to free speech,freedom of religion and so on. Basically one right can not be used to trample or suppress another right. Rights retained by the people would be those enumerated in the constitution.
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You are so wrong. Rights are not granted. They pre-exist; even the foundations of this country. The 9th amendment is the guardian of all unenumerated rights.

How can you say that rights retained by the people are only those enumerated in the Constitution when the text of the 9th clearly contradicts you? The 9th speaks to unenumerated rights.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. - 9th Amendment
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Here's what Madison had to say on this when he introduced the Bill of Rights:

It has been objected also against a Bill of Rights, that, by enumerating particular exceptions to the grant of power, it would disparage those rights which were not placed in that enumeration; and it might follow by implication, that those rights which were not singled out, were intended to be assigned into the hands of the General Government, and were consequently insecure. This is one of the most plausible arguments I have ever heard against the admission of a bill of rights into this system; but, I conceive, that it may be guarded against. I have attempted it, as gentlemen may see by turning to the last clause of the fourth resolution.
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That last clause of the fourth resolution eventually became the 9th amendment. Delegates were quite concerned that by listing a handful of rights, those that weren't listed would fall prey to the government. Despite Madison's valiant attempt to alleviate those fears via the 9th, it pretty much failed. To this day, we're still fighting to secure unenumerated rights because the 9th has basically been shoved aside as government at all levels has enlarged its powers at the expense of our rights.

Nowhere in the Constitution is government granted the authority to take upon itself powers not specifically spelled out; and yet, you argue that government has the power to grant rights. Most baffling.

BTW, Madison was speaking to people like you when he said those words. Pity you pay him no heed.
 
CrusaderRabbit08 said:
9th Amendment

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

A nice catch all amendment for the rest of our rights that weren't listed in the Constitution.

The problem is, it's pretty much ignored at all levels of government and these rights are routinely denied or severely restricted.
Click to expand...

The ironic thing about the 9th is that the way it is interpreted today is the exact opposite way it was originally supposed to be interpreted.

The 9th was put in to clarify that not all rights are protected by the Constitution, and that Constitutional rights are not the only rights one can have. It has somehow been construed as to mean that all rights are Constitutional- the exact opposite of the intended message- and that the Supreme Court gets to make up any "unenumerated right" it wants to, and it will be part of the Constitution, even though it's not part of the Constitution.

For that reason, the 9th has become my least favorite Amendment - not because of the intentions behind it, but because of how many peoople read it today.
 
Dav said:
10th Amendment. Not because it's the most important, but because it's the most neglected and thus it is the most necessary to educate people about and put more focus on. Unfortunately a huge portion of what the Federal government does today pretty clearly violates the 10th Amendment.
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Actually, it IS among the most important -- it notes that the federal governmnt is limited to the powers given to it by the Constitution, and that all other power is otherwise retained.

That is, power flows up, not down.
 
Dav said:
The 9th was put in to clarify that not all rights are protected by the Constitution, and that Constitutional rights are not the only rights one can have. It has somehow been construed as to mean that all rights are Constitutional- the exact opposite of the intended message- and that the Supreme Court gets to make up any "unenumerated right" it wants to, and it will be part of the Constitution, even though it's not part of the Constitution.
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According to who?
 
Goobieman said:
Actually, it IS among the most important -- it notes that the federal governmnt is limited to the powers given to it by the Constitution, and that all other power is otherwise retained.

That is, power flows up, not down.
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The reason it's not the most important is because that should have been obvious anyways, even without an Amendment to remind people. If the Constitution already lists what powers each branch of the government has, it stands to reason that the government does not have powers beyond those listed; otherwise there would be no need for a list at all. Apparently the Founding Fathers realized that people might forget this or not realize it. Apparently they were right.
 
Dav said:
If the Constitution already lists what powers each branch of the government has, it stands to reason that the government does not have powers beyond those listed; otherwise there would be no need for a list at all. Apparently the Founding Fathers realized that people might forget this or not realize it. Apparently they were right.
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Government has clearly forgotten this.
 
CrusaderRabbit08 said:
According to who?
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What are you asking about?

If you mean the original intent of the 9th Amendment, you just have to read the Amendment itself:

9th Amendment said:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Click to expand...

Note the bolded part. The words used are "retained by the people" - NOT the government. "Retained by the people" is the same wording used in the 10th Amendment as an entity separate from the federal government.


The 9th maintains that there are rights which are not listed in the Bill of Rights. It does not maintain that said un-enumerated rights are protected by the Constitution to the same level as other rights in the BoR. This can be proven with simple logic- why even list Constitutionally protected rights in the first place, if those aren't the only rights which are Constitutionally protected?
 
Dav said:
The reason it's not the most important is because that should have been obvious anyways, even without an Amendment to remind people.
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Ah, well, thank the Anti-federalists. Had they not insited, and the Federalist argument (similar to yours) held up, the amendment - indeed, the wntire bill of rights - would not be there and things would be far far worse then they are now.
 
Dav said:
This can be proven with simple logic- why even list Constitutionally protected rights in the first place, if those aren't the only rights which are Constitutionally protected?
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They were listed because the anti-federalists demanded it. No Bill of Rights, no Constitution. It was that simple.
 
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