The Best Amendment (The Ninth) [TEASER]

If the Supreme Court makes up a new right for which there is not historical evidence, then I think it has exceeded its powers under the Constitution.

Hey everyone, this is Leon from Fiasco and Prologue Projects.

On this Patreon-only episode of 5-4, Peter, Rhiannon, and Michael are talking about the Ninth Amendment.

That's the one that says citizens have rights that extend beyond what is enumerated in the Bill of Rights.

The Ninth Amendment was largely ignored until the 1960s, when it became important in the development of the right to privacy and its relationship to reproductive rights.

That gave conservatives pause, and their response, by and large, has been to pretend the Ninth Amendment just doesn't exist.

This is 5-4, a podcast about how much the Supreme Court sucks.

Welcome to 5-4, where we dissect and analyze the Supreme Court cases that have tainted the legacy of our Constitution, the way that weird anti-vax shit has tainted the legacy of Aaron Rodgers.

Peter,

yes.

I'm here with Michael.

Hey, everybody.

And Rhiannon.

Hi, hello.

You know, I had resisted Aaron Rodgers' hate for a long time.

I really liked him.

He's so much fun to watch.

But this year, man, yeah, I was happy to see him lose in the playoffs.

Fuck that guy.

Yeah.

Been very fun for natural haters such as myself, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers going going down in one weekend.

It's been good.

It's been good.

Yeah.

Young POC quarterback succeeding.

Also, something I support.

That's right.

We love to see it.

We love to see it.

Somewhat related to my being a Chiefs fan.

Somewhat.

Speaking of washed-up has-bins passing the torch to talented young people of color.

Yes.

Yes.

What a gorgeous transition.

What might this be about, Michael?

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has finally announced his retirement, effective at the end of this term, upon confirmation of his successor, which Joe Biden has promised will be a black woman.

It's very exciting to know that he will not be replaced by Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis or whoever.

And we're going to get somebody pretty great.

Probably Katanji Brown Jackson, but there's a whole list of fantastic candidates, every one of them worth being excited about.

Yeah.

And it's making conservatives very mad because Biden promised a black woman.

And obviously that's racism.

And it's the only kind of racism.

Yes.

Racism is when you commit to correcting historical wrongs perpetrated against certain demographics.

That's right.

That's what racism is.

The definition does not go beyond that.

That's right.

If we've learned nothing from the crazy critical race theory debates over the past couple of months, it's that racism is making white people feel bad.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That is the gravest harm you can do.

Not only not getting a Supreme Court seat, but knowing you were never in the running.

Man.

Whoa.

Cool.

Yeah.

Yeah.

God.

That's tough.

Anyway, if we have anyone who's like an enterprising young writer out there, write a book about the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, and it'll be banned in the next five years.

That's right.

The way things are going.

Look, I don't think we have a ton more to say about the Breyer retirement.

It's good, and we did it.

We are the ones who are responsible.

Five to four.

Of course.

Yeah, I do want to say that we're taking credit.

This is our doing.

Absolutely.

We've been doing this podcast for two years.

Did anyone say the Supreme Court sucks before that?

No.

No.

No.

Did anyone else put a surfing flamingo on a shirt that says Stephen Breyer, retire bitch?

No.

Absolutely not.

No one did that.

Cowards.

They were all, at best, publishing publishing op-eds that were like, hey, Stephen,

maybe you should think about stepping down.

That wasn't our approach.

We said retire bitch.

And one of our listeners sent a mug

that said Stephen Breyer, retire bitch on it to his office.

That's right.

I don't see how we're not responsible.

It just makes logical sense.

There's no other explanation.

I will be accepting all of the accolades.

Yes.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Joe Biden, you're welcome.

Yeah, that's right.

If you want to award us medals, that makes sense.

And to the extent that this makes society better in any way, we did that.

No one else.

For sure.

That's right.

All right.

To the episode.

Today, we are talking about the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution.

This is a very special episode.

We've never talked about the Constitution before.

Not so specifically.

The Ninth Amendment.

says, and I quote, the enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

So, what does that mean?

In simple terms, it means that the individual rights outlined in the Constitution are not a comprehensive list.

Other rights can and do exist, and if you take this amendment seriously, are just as important and fundamental as the rights enumerated explicitly in the Constitution.

Naturally, this is a big deal, right?

The implication that there are protected rights outside of those specified in the Constitution is a pretty dramatic one, and especially disconcerting to conservatives who were already upset that there were any rights to begin with.

Yes.

Hey, folks, if you want to hear the rest of this episode, you're going to have to subscribe.

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