The Ninth Amendment: The Forgotten Right the Supreme Court Barely Cites | Bill Norton

Guest: Bill Norton Bill Norton is a constitutional scholar and author who has spent roughly thirty five years studying the founding principles and keeps a personal library of about four thousand books. He is the author of Behind the Bill of Rights, co-authored with Jeremy Nelson of the National Center for Constitutional Studies, with Behind the Declaration of Independence and Behind the Constitution of the United States to follow. This is the bonus conversation that closes his four-lesson founding principles training series with Jenny Beth Martin. Key topics: The Ninth Amendment, the amendment scholars call forgotten, and why the Supreme Court has cited it only a handful of times Why "enumerated in the Constitution" cannot mean the Bill of Rights, which did not exist when the Ninth was written James Madison telling George Washington that protecting rights and limiting powers are two sides of the same coin Why the Ninth Amendment was originally numbered the Eleventh, and how two failed amendments shift every number in the founders' letters The rarely read preamble to the Bill of Rights and the phrase "misconstruction or abuse of its powers" The natural law principle behind the Second Amendment, which Norton says is simply the right of self preservation Why English law once required a man to own a longbow and to be trained on it Freedom of conscience versus religious tolerance, and why Thomas Paine and George Washington called tolerance condescending John Adams on mixing religion and government, and Norton's argument that the church tax exemption silences pastors The trial of William Penn, the jury held without food or sleep, and the verdict they would not change Jury nullification, what it actually does, and why a judge can overturn a guilty verdict but never an acquittal The Third Amendment's single court case and the principle of pre-consent How Arizona's governor cited the wrong constitutional sections during the pandemic lockdowns Jenny Beth Martin on leading the fight to reopen America's schools What James Madison's most misquoted letter really says about an Article Five convention Timestamps: 00:14 — Cold open: the last conversation in the founding principles series 00:57 — Behind the Bill of Rights, and the three books 03:14 — What surprised him: the founders barely explained the principles 05:50 — The Second Amendment and the right of self preservation 07:38 — The research: a dozen books, Magna Carta, and Jamestown 10:37 — Freedom of religion, or freedom of conscience 11:23 — The Pilgrims, Holland, and the freedom they did not want 14:53 — Thomas Paine and George Washington on tolerance 19:42 — John Adams: religion and government corrupt each other 21:42 — The paradox of tolerance 24:30 — Superiority, captivity, and cancel culture 29:05 — Jury nullification and how to get out of jury duty 32:09 — The trial of William Penn 41:14 — The Third Amendment and the principle of pre-consent 44:42 — Arizona's governor and the wrong emergency sections 47:45 — Jenny Beth Martin on the fight to reopen the schools 50:52 — The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and on-call judges 52:58 — The Ninth Amendment we have been reading wrong 55:14 — Why the Ninth was originally the Eleventh 58:37 — Enumerated in the Constitution, not the Bill of Rights 59:34 — Madison to Washington: two sides of the same coin 01:02:40 — The amendment the Supreme Court barely cites 01:03:41 — Madison, Patrick Henry, and the Virginia ratification fight 01:06:44 — Jenny Beth Martin on the SAVE America Act, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, and proof of citizenship to register to vote 01:08:14 — What Madison's letter about a new convention really says 01:13:01 — Two hundred fifty years, and a government you can change 01:14:43 — Closing: you do not have to become a scholar Links mentioned: The full four-lesson founding principles training: teapartypatriots.org/1776 The show: jennybethshow.com Tea Party Patriots Action: teapartypatriots.org