The 9th and 10th Amendments: Foundations of Limited Government

Placed into our Constitution to limit our federal government, fidelity to these two amendments has been… lacking.

James Madison - Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash

The 9th and 10th Amendments are America's liberty sentinels, limiting federal encroachment. The 9th shields the people's unenumerated rights, while the 10th guards the people and states the power not conferred to the federal government. They each maintain the concept of a constrained federal government function, particularly in the domestic area. As James Madison put it in Federalist No. 45, "The powers delegated. to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.".

This vision has been undermined by liberal activism on the Supreme Court. Especially under the Warren Court (1953–1969), where expansive interpretations of federal power reduced the effectiveness of the 10th Amendment’s safeguards to state sovereignty. The Court extended Congress's jurisdiction, allowing federal regulation of local affairs under the guise of interstate commerce, limiting states' ability to control their affairs. Similarly, the 9th Amendment's protection of unenumerated rights was selectively used to advance progressive agendas, even though its larger purpose of reining central authority was lost.

Restoring fidelity to these amendments requires returning to first principles. The federal government should focus on its enumerated national defense and foreign affairs powers and leave education, healthcare, and social policy to states and communities. Conservatives must champion the 9th and 10th Amendments to revive the Founders’ distrust of concentrated authority. A government that respects these limits honors the liberty it was designed to protect.