If you have not caught this story, its worthy of your taking the read. As we ponder what move our regime will take next in reducing our Constitution to worthless paper, the third Amendment gets a workout with this story. No doubt the family would have been better off chosing a better Amendment such as the fourth, either way, looks like for the first time this one will get adjudicated by the claimants. The basic story is that the police wanted to use the house to stake out their neighbor. Not wanting to get involved they refused. You can guess the answer. In a horrendous tale, you can guess who got pepper sprayed and ended up in jail. Here we go:
The most obvious obstacle to winning a Third Amendment claim here is that police arguably do not qualify as “soldiers.” On the other hand, as Radley Balko describes in his excellent new book The Rise of the Warrior Cop, many police departments are increasingly using military-style tactics and equipment, often including the aggressive use of force against innocent people who get in the way of their plans. If the plaintiffs’ complaint is accurate, this appears to be an example of that trend. In jurisdictions where the police have become increasingly militarized, perhaps the courts should treat them as “soldiers” for Third Amendment purposes.
The Third Amendment, which forbids the “quarter[ing]” of “soldiers” in private homes in peacetime without the owner’s consent, is often the butt of jokes among lawyers, because it generates so little litigation. But the Amendment has come up in this ongoing Nevada case, along with the Fourth Amendment and state law claims
Henderson [Nevada] police arrested a family for refusing to let officers use their homes as lookouts for a domestic violence investigation of their neighbors, the family claims in court.
Anthony Mitchell and his parents Michael and Linda Mitchell sued the City of Henderson, its Police Chief Jutta Chambers, Officers Garret Poiner, Ronald Feola, Ramona Walls, Angela Walker, and Christopher Worley, and City of North Las Vegas and its Police Chief Joseph Chronister, in Federal Court…. Full story at Volokh
Perhaps just as interesting is this site that claims to have the info and pics on the cops who were involved in the alleged incident at Home Invader Blowback. Somehow the cops don’t appear to be our finest.
BUNKERVILLE | God, Guns and Guts Comrades! 