Which Amendment In The Bill Of Rights Has Never Faced A Significant Constitutional Challenge Or Case In The Supreme Court?

Since the amendments in the Bill of Rights were agreed upon and ratified and came into effect on 15th December 1791, most, if not all, of the amendments have faced some form of constitutional scrutiny or have been spoken about and challenged within the US judicial system.

However of the original 10 amendments to the US Constitution the amendment that has caused the least amount of controversy and has been challenged least is the third amendment. The third amendment states:

• "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 ensured the protection of troops from quartering during times of peace and allows for the provision of quartering troops only during wartime. As there are no longer many soldiers in quartered housing it would appear that this amendment is largely redundant in modern culture.

Therefore it is not often sited, nor is it greatly debated or challenged as there is not really a need to. In fact, it has only really be directly used or contested within court once. This was when there was a strike of prison guards in New York in 1979, the guards vacated their quarters as a part of the strike.

Their duties were taken up by the National Guard, as was the housing for a short amount of time. This was contested by the guards, citing the Third Amendment as the reason for grievance. This case was subsequently upheld, suggesting that the guards were technically 'owners' of the housing and did not give consent for the National Guard to live there.

• You can read more about the Engblom v. Carey case at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engblom_v._Carey