Apparently, It’s Time to Talk About the Third Amendment
The often forgotten Third Amendment is trending far and wide on social media after Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a constitutional conservative and lawyer, tweeted that it was unconscionable that Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) would evict more than a thousand out-of-state soldiers from D.C. hotels.
“The very first thing is we want the military — we want troops from out-of-state out of Washington, D.C.,” the mayor said.
Few consider the Third Amendment because it just isn’t a part of every day life in America, unlike the First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Amendments, for example. People have over the last few days drawn attention to soldiers “quartering” at Washington, D.C. hotels.
America Is Facing A Third Amendment Crisis
Humor is rooted in the absurd, but this is not really a laughing matter.
Active-duty military police and National Guardsmen have been patrolling the streets of D.C. for days. During a Rose Garden speech on Monday, President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to quell rioting, looting and destruction.
“I am also taking swift and decisive action to protect our great capital, Washington, D.C. What happened in this city last night was a total disgrace,” Trump said. “As we speak, I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel, and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults, and the wanton destruction of property.”
Military police and mounted police then “moved the perimeter,” as Attorney General William Barr put it, and controversially cleared out Americans in Lafayette Square who were protesting George Floyd’s killing, systemic racism, and police brutality. This happened just before the president’s polarizing photo op with a Bible.
Here’s what the Third Amendment actually says:
This raises some obvious questions: Are hotels a “house”? Even if they are, what authority does Bowser have to evict troops staying at privately owned hotels if the hotel owners consented? Does “any house” apply to private property more broadly?
Whatever the case, people seem to be in agreement that we need to “stop trying to make the Third Amendment happen.”
Active-duty military police and National Guardsmen have been patrolling the streets of D.C. for days. During a Rose Garden speech on Monday, President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to quell rioting, looting and destruction.
“I am also taking swift and decisive action to protect our great capital, Washington, D.C. What happened in this city last night was a total disgrace,” Trump said. “As we speak, I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel, and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults, and the wanton destruction of property.”
Military police and mounted police then “moved the perimeter,” as Attorney General William Barr put it, and controversially cleared out Americans in Lafayette Square who were protesting George Floyd’s killing, systemic racism, and police brutality. This happened just before the president’s polarizing photo op with a Bible.
Here’s what the Third Amendment actually says:
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
This raises some obvious questions: Are hotels a “house”? Even if they are, what authority does Bowser have to evict troops staying at privately owned hotels if the hotel owners consented? Does “any house” apply to private property more broadly?
Whatever the case, people seem to be in agreement that we need to “stop trying to make the Third Amendment happen.”
