Blackwater and the Constitution
The Third Amendment -- going, going ... gone?
Pretty slick trick, Bush Administration. NIce work, Blackwater.
The Third Amendment says that ``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.''
Apart from the Founders' fondness for a weird scattershot use of commas [evidence that ''well-ordered'' militia thing], which would grieve the punctilious-about-punctuation heart of my elementary-school teacher Mrs. Sedeen, this amendent has been, as the new ''in'' word says, a bit of a legal outlier.
Thankfully, our history hasn't generated major Supreme Court cases over the government trying to billet Sergeant York in private houses; the biggest military incursion in private homes in memory is probably G.I. Joe.
But with Blackwater trying to set up a counterterrorism training facility along the Mexican border, San Diego has appealed to a federal court.
It isn't precisely the language of the Third Amendmeent -- mercenaries won't be camping in the gazebo -- but it does go to the broader sense of ''house'' and ''home'': is it our neighborhoods? Our cities?
The Blackwater business is slick on two counts. With the government privatizing military functions, it could plausibly argue, ``Heck, they're not soldiers. They don't wear the nation's uniform, and they're too well-paid to be soldiers.'' And as for that ``time of war'' thing, ``that's no problem in any case -- aren't we always at war these days?''
Blackwater employees not being considered ''soldiers,'' they don't have some of the advantages of the uniform -- but don't seem to bear any of the limitations or encumbrances, either. National security beats full house, straight flush, royal flush, you name it.
Nice try, San Diego, but don't expect any more support from the courts than all the folks in the path of that border fence. After all, there's a war on.
Even more Blackwater backwater - I’m surprised this corporation has not yet been brought down! Nominate their corruption in the Corporate Hall of Shame 2009. This needs as much exposure that it can get:
Posted by: Michelle Lee | July 31, 2008 at 07:47 AM
Concerned about these mercenary war-profiteering, tax-evading, gun-running, no-bid federal contract murderers? Visit Blackwater Watch on the web and Citizens Oversight.
Posted by: Christian Stalberg | July 09, 2008 at 03:33 AM
You are normally pretty on-target, Patt, but you got it completely wrong here. You really ought to read the court papers thoroughly.
Blackwater's facility in San Diego does not train Blackwater fighters. It trains US Navy sailors. There are no "mercenaries" there. It's just a speciality training center for the armed forces. The Air Force has similar sites for specialized flying skills. The Navy has a relatively minor contract with Blackwater to train sailors in anti-terrorism tactics.
Secondly, the very basis of Blackwater's suit was that ITS constitutional rights were being violated. Simply put, the city of San Diego tried to treat Blackwater differently because it did not like it.
Put another way, in California, Blackwater types are an unpopular minority. And the Constitution protects unpopular minorities. Change that (whether for racial minorities in the South in the 60s OR for Blackwater now), and you have changed our country for the worse.
Please take a closer look at this one, Patt.
Posted by: Listen Up Patt | July 08, 2008 at 07:07 PM
I have exactly the same question as Dave. Not one post about that tepid, capitulating bill that just enshrines the idea that if you can buy off enough of Congress, you get away clean if the President tells you to do something, even if it's illegal. Glenn Greenwald needs to be on the pages of the Times, not fascist fellow travelers like Max Boot and Jonah Goldberg -- and certainly not creeps like the vacant shill Nancy Soderberg.
Posted by: Rob McMillin | July 08, 2008 at 01:44 PM
Patt:
Pretty slick trick yourself. Even if we call the warehouse a "house" the owner not only consents, but it is those very rights of property owners to equal treatment under law that are at issue in the case. If you look beyond the anti-war talking points and actually read the readily-available-online pleadings in the case, you would see that this case DOES involve Constitutional issues dear to all of us---equal treatment under law, due process of law, dormant commerce clause----rights that Blackwater sadly had to turn to a federal court to protect. Nice try, Pat.
Posted by: Drew | July 08, 2008 at 01:02 PM
What a crappy blog. Where are the comments/letters in regarding Soderberg's piece on the FISA amendments???
Her drival was blown out of the water by Glenn Greenwald.
Are you too embarrased to post them??
Posted by: dave | July 08, 2008 at 12:38 PM
Blackwater,Triple Canopy, and all of the "others' are the biggest threat to our society that George Bush and his fellow cohorts have managed to concoct during his reign. These jackbooted private forces of the president can and will be used against us common citizens who are in essence paying their salariies. The "Patriot Act " will be their bible. They said it right after 9/11 " Watch what you say".
Posted by: Tully Moxness | July 08, 2008 at 12:23 PM