The Third Amendment of the Bill of Rights is:
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.
This amendment prevents the federal government from forcing people to house soldiers without the passing of a law which specifically permits it. Being able to deny soldiers or any other person the use of one’s own property falls under the right to pursue happiness. As such, with my proposal the federal government will be forbidden from quartering soldiers in the home of an unwilling individual except theoretically as a consequence of some violation of someone else’s rights by the home owner. This provides the same protections or greater protections than the third amendment. The third amendment allows the federal government to quarter soldiers in people’s homes if the representatives in congress pass a law which permits it. Under my proposal, if the congress passes any law permitting or compelling soldiers to quarter in the homes of unwilling individuals, then the constitutionality of that law can be challenged to determine if it is a result of a credible threat to the rights of life of others for one individual to deny a soldier quarter. In other words, the law can be challenged to test if the situation is really dire enough such that the mere action of denying a soldier quarter directly results in the credible threat of harm or death to others. The law could not survive the constitutionality test except in the worst situations such as an invasion by a foreign force that uses the strategy of total war (the complete destruction of enemy infrastructure and civilians).
