Commentary President Joe Biden recently reaffirmed his long-standing position that the Constitution’s Ninth Amendment protects abortion, and he wants the courts to start enforcing that provision. Abortion is not mentioned in the Constitution, but Biden is one of many who claim the Ninth Amendment protects unmentioned rights. In the Supreme Court’s notorious 1965 “emanations and penumbras” case, a liberal activist majority suggested—although did not actually rule—that the Ninth Amendment protects an unmentioned right to privacy (pdf). Elsewhere on the political spectrum, some conservative and libertarian writers contend that the Ninth Amendment protects economic rights. They’re all wrong. Their errors derive from not understanding the Ninth Amendment’s background and unfamiliarity with an intervening change in the English language. The Ninth Amendment reads as follows: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Translated from formal 18th century English …