Prof. Jill Hasday Quoted by Star Tribune About Possible Constitutional Violation by U.S. Government in Pressuring Local Hotel to House ICE Agents

Professor Jill Hasday was quoted by the Minnesota Star Tribune about how the Third Amendment could possibly protect a Lakeville hotel to not allow a conservative influencer who posed as a DHS employee to enter its property earlier this week. The case poses questions about whether the government could be found in violation of the U.S. Constitution for pressuring a hotel into housing agents. The beginning of the Third Amendment states: “No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner …” Prof. Hasday said it’s difficult to envision how a lawsuit based on the Third Amendment would play out given there has never been one in the U.S. Supreme Court. She said, “There would be so many questions before the Third Amendment applied,” and if it was determined that agents don’t count as “soldiers,” then a hotel owner could simply argue on general private property rights that they don’t have to house agents if they choose not to. She noted that while there are civil rights laws to protect people from being discriminated against based on race or sex, a government agent isn’t a protected class. She added, “If anything, the Third Amendment protects the idea that private property owners can’t be forced to house members of the military.”