re: #267 Targetpractice

I see. Well, not that it really matters, for there to be a 3A case here, the owners of all the hotels where NG troops are renting rooms (paying the gov’t rate, of course) would have to file with the courts that those troops are there without their consent. Considering the word that one or more of those hotels were closed due to the CV-19 outbreak, odds are the owners are not going to go along with kicking those troops out.

Not entirely.

The Third Amendment was incorporated as a response to the British Quartering Act of 1765, which required the colonies to quarter troops in alehouses, inns, hotels, or livery stables if there was insufficient barracks space.

Under the original interpretation of the amendment, if whoever is in charge of Utah’s National Guard in DC is making DC pay to put up troops in DC hotels, that would be a violation of the Third Amendment.

That said, there doesn’t appear to be an issue with Mayor Bowser and hotels; her complaint is troops from other states on DC soil.

A similar case might be the Nebraska National Guard going in uniform and under arms and camping in hotels in South Dakota without permission of the South Dakota governor. The South Dakota governor would be within her rights to tell our Guard troops to get out of her state.