3rd Amendment

3rd Amendment“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.”

1. Prohibits government during peacetime from forcing private citizens to quarter soldiers without the property owner’s permission

2. If government must quarter soldiers during a time of war, it must do so according to legal procedures

HistoryProhibition of quartering troops in private homes

was included in English Bill of Rights (1689)3rd Amendment does not distinguish between

private and publicDuring French & Indian War (1754-1763) British

troops were quartered in both public & private houses in American colonies

HistoryBritish troops were ordered to stay in American

colonies after French & Indian WarQuartering Act (1765) required colonial

assemblies to pay the cost of feeding and housing British troops in the colonies

NY & MA protested quartering of soldiersBoston Massacre (1770)

HistoryDeclaration stated the King “has kept among us,

in time of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures”

Oddly, colonial troops were quartered among private citizens during the Revolutionary War

HistorySome protested that the Constitution of 1787

provided for a peacetime or standing armyPatrick Henry of VA noted that there was no

protection Push to include protection from quartering of

troops in the Bill of Rights

Third Amendment & the Courts

Never the subject of a Supreme Court decisionNever incorporated to apply to statesInterpreted in Engblom v. Carey (1982) by U.S.

Court of AppealsReferred to in Supreme Court cases in regards

to right to privacy

Engblom v. Carey (1982)Strike by prison guards in NYSome guards lived in dorm-type housing on grounds

of the prisonGovernor ordered the states National Guard to

provide security at prisonStriking guards were locked out of living quarters,

National Guard housed there insteadCourt deemed that members of National Guard were

soldiers, and that the 3rd Amendment did apply to the states

The Third Amendment & Privacy

Justice Joseph Story in 1833—The Third Amendment’s “plain object is to secure the perfect enjoyment of that great right of the common law, that a man’s house shall be his own castle, privileged against all civil and military intrusion.”

The Third Amendment & Privacy

A reminder that there are limits to government’s power to intrude upon its citizens, that there are places it may not go.