for albaby (and others)

Investment Analysis Clubs Liquid Lounge
21

Doesn’t one of the amendments in the Bill of Rights say that all rights not listed in the Constitution belong to the people? Why wouldn’t that cover a right to privacy, right to medical care of choice, right to abortion?

I could be wrong, but I don’t believe the Declaration of Independence has any legal force. It was just giving the finger to King George. The Constitution has all the legal, enforceable stuff (free press, etc).

The Declaration of Independence has no legal force today, but it shows that the Founders valued liberty. Privacy was not mentioned, and so is debatable, although people did wear clothes and so must have had some sense of private vs public.

The US Constitution was intended to “secure the blessings of liberty”. The Right to Liberty is not an Enumerated Right in the Constitution, but is an unalienable Right in the Declaration of Independence. The Ninth Amendment says the Right to Liberty is “retained by the people”. Liberty is the starting point.

Preamble to the US Constitution
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

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22

…and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity

Exactly. The very purpose of the US Constitution is to “secure the blessings of liberty.” If the liberty to determine what to do with one’s own body is not among such “blessings,” then nothing is.

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23

Exactly. The very purpose of the US Constitution is to “secure the blessings of liberty.” If the liberty to determine what to do with one’s own body is not among such “blessings,” then nothing is.

Just to pipe in real quick: while the term “liberty” appears in both the Preamble and the Declaration, don’t forget that it appears in the text of the Constitution itself in the 14th Amendment. That’s the iteration of the term “liberty” that’s typically being construed in cases where there’s an argument that state action or regulation should be limited because it conflicts with an individual’s rights.

Albaby

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