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Shostack + Friends Blog Archive

 

"Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us.."

So following up on our tradition of posting the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain on the 4th, I wanted to use one of those facts submitted to a candid world to comment on goings on in…Great Britain. There, the government has decided to place anti-aircraft missiles on the roof of a residential building near the Olympic park, and the residents objected.

However, the courts have ruled that such a decision is not subject to judicial review. (“London tower block residents lose bid to challenge Olympic missiles“) I think it’s a bit of a shame it didn’t happen here in the US, where it would be a rare opportunity for a bit of third amendment law:

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.

It’s not clear that a missile battery is a soldier, nor that on a house is equivalent to in a house, and I suspect those are two of the few remaining words in the Bill of Rights that haven’t been hyper-analyzed.