Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: New Books in Law
Episode: Anthony B. Sanders, "Baby Ninth Amendments: How Americans Embraced Unenumerated Rights and Why It Matters" (U Michigan Press, 2023)
Description: Listing every right that a constitution should protect is hard. American constitution drafters often list a few famous rights such as freedom of speech, protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, and free exercise of religion, plus a handful of others. However, we do not need to enumerate every liberty because there is another way to protect them: an "etcetera clause." It states that there are other rights beyond those specifically listed: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." Yet scholars are divided on whether the...