Hearing the People, Part 1 | America's Unwritten Constitution with Akhil Reed Amar

Nothing in the text guarantees your right to testify in your own defense, and at the founding no court allowed it. Akhil Reed Amar explains how it became a basic right. This lecture opens the chapter on America's lived Constitution: rights the people establish through custom and daily practice. Amar reads the Ninth Amendment's promise of unenumerated rights and shows how courts "count" evolving state practice to recognize them, from the right to testify and proof beyond reasonable doubt to the privacy line running through Griswold, Eisenstadt, and Lawrence v. Texas. He also explains why Roe v. Wade, out ahead of state practice, proved so contested. Chapters: 00:00 Unwritten rights and the Ninth Amendment 03:32 Finding implicit rights in the text 08:05 Counting how ordinary people live 09:42 The right to testify in your own defense 17:58 Substantive due process and Griswold 21:01 Lawrence v. Texas and counting the states 25:11 Why Roe v. Wade was different 📚 Learning objectives: After watching, you'll be able to: - Explain how the Ninth Amendment supports unenumerated rights - Describe the "counting" method courts use to recognize new rights - Trace the right to testify and proof beyond reasonable doubt from founding practice to today - Analyze the privacy cases from Griswold through Lawrence v. Texas - Distinguish Roe v. Wade from rights that tracked lived practice 📺 Watch the full playlist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLABHWcbOLwlY 🎓 Enroll on Coursera for assessments and a certificate: https://www.coursera.org/learn/unwritten-constitution 🌐 Explore more learning opportunities on Yale Online: https://online.yale.edu/courses/americas-unwritten-constitution