The Current Academic Situations over the Meaning of the Ninth Amendment : The Various Interpretations from the Viewpoint of Originalism

Abstract

Although many scholars seek to find the universal and settled meaning of the ninth amendment and enjoy the richness of the inquiry relating to the unenumerated rights, the current situation about the interpretation of the ninth amendment is too various and complicated. However, thanks to originalism, someone can categorize the series of amassed scholarly works following the several versions of originalism such as original intent originalism, original understanding originalism, original public meaning originalism, and semantic originalism. Each type of originalism may reveal the possible (or acceptable) interpretation over the meaning/character of the ninth amendment or/and the unenumerated rights. In this article, the author has tried to keep various interpretive accounts about the ninth amendment fit into the categories that are the fruits of the theoretical progress of originalism.