Third Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

A short constitutional provision prohibiting the quartering of soldiers in private homes without consent. In the processed material the amendment appears not as a physical prop but as a cited legal text — a one‑paragraph clause invoked aloud, referenced by citation and memory during an Oval Office debate to signal legal precedent and the home’s sanctity.

2 appearances

Purpose

To prohibit the quartering of soldiers in private residences without the owner’s consent, preserving the privacy and sanctity of the home as a constitutional protection.

Significance

Sam invokes this amendment as concrete support for a broader, lived right to privacy, using the Third Amendment alongside the Fourth and Fifth to counter strict textualism. Its citation reframes the confirmation fight from abstract jurisprudence to tangible personal liberties and helps pivot the narrative away from Harrison.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

2 moments

S1E9 · The Short List

Textualism vs. Lived Rights

The Third Amendment is cited by Sam as an example of a constitutional provision that safeguards home privacy, used to imply a broader, lived right to privacy contrary to Harrison's strict textualism.

Before: Not physically handled but linguistically invoked in argument.

After: Remains a rhetorical touchstone supporting Sam's position that privacy is reflected in the Bill of Rights' protections.

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S1E9 · The Short List

Cream in Coffee: Bartlet Punctures Textualism

The Third Amendment is explicitly invoked by Sam to demonstrate that privacy protections are embedded in the Bill of Rights; it functions as evidence against a purely enumerative reading that would deny implied privacy.

Before: Intact as a cited constitutional passage, conceptually present in legal debate.

After: Remains cited; its rhetorical force is mobilized by Sam to challenge textualist limits and to broaden the privacy argument in the room.

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