Amendment IX: Our Cornucopia of Rights

by Jack Kevorkian

This book details Dr. Jack Kevorkian's interpretations of the Ninth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It can be purchased from almainc.org or downloaded for free at www.amendmentnine.com

76 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Jacob "Jack" Kevorkian was an American pathologist, right-to-die activist, painter, composer, and instrumentalist. He is best known for publicly championing a terminal patient's right to die via physician-assisted suicide; he said that he assisted at least 130 patients to that end. He famously said that "dying is not a crime".

Beginning in 1999, Kevorkian served eight years of a 10-to-25-year prison sentence for second-degree murder. He was released on parole on June 1, 2007, on condition that he would not offer suicide advice to any other person.

As an oil painter and a jazz musician, Kevorkian marketed limited quantities of his visual and musical artwork to the public.

Reviews

[InYourFaceNewYorker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Ninth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution goes like this, "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." Dr. Kevorkian, perhaps correctly, interprets this to mean that people should be allowed to say or do whatever they want as long as they are not threatening anybody or damaging somebody else's property. I completely agree with this aspect of his libertarian philosophy. If the Ninth Amendment is to be taken seriously, then it means that blacks and women always had the right to vote and gays always had the right to marry. The book is sometimes a bit idealistic, but it is still an interesting read and worth thinking about, especially as to why it has never been used in a Supreme Court Decision!