‘3rd Amendment’ Trends on Twitter After D.C. Mayor Evicts Utah National Guard

Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser evicted soldiers from the Utah National Guard from their hotel rooms on Friday, triggering outrage from Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) — and debate about the long-neglected Third Amendment.

The Third Amendment, one of the original ten in the Bill of Rights, declares: “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.”

The issue was a potent one in the late 18th century, when British soldiers were forcibly quartered in Colonials’ homes.

President Trump called in the National Guard to assist in quelling riots earlier this week — against Bowser’s wishes.

On Thursday evening, Sen. Lee had tweeted angrily about rumors of Mayor Bowser’s impending decision:

The Utah National Guard confirmed Friday morning that it had been kicked out of its hotel rooms with no alternative accommodation:

On Friday morning, Bowser wrote to President Donald Trump, requesting that he remove “all extraordinary federal law enforcement and military presence from Washington, DC.” She said their presence was “inflaming demonstrators and adding to the grievances” of the protests.

Though Mayor Bowser did not actually invoke the Constitution, her decision nevertheless caused the term “3rd Amendment” to trend on Twitter on Friday as her supporters debated her critics:

It is unlikely that the Third Amendment would apply in this case, unless the hotels where they had been staying had not consented to their presence and been paid accordingly.

Still, constitutional scholars were greatly amused by the sudden relevance of one of the more obscure amendments to the Constitution, a relic of the American Revolution.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, is available for pre-order. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.