Criminal Law Blog
January 07, 2007
President Bush can open your mail if he damned well wants to!
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
President Bush says “no, not quite.”
More specifically, the President’s latest assault on our freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures touches on the executive branch’s interpretation of its right to open your mail.
The law which the President does not really want to follow reads this way:
“The Postal Service shall maintain one or more classes of mail for the transmission of letters sealed against inspection. The rate for each such class shall be uniform throughout the United States, its territories, and possessions. One such class shall provide for the most expeditious handling and transportation afforded mail matter by the Postal Service. No letter of such a class of domestic origin shall be opened except under authority of a search warrant authorized by law, or by an officer or employee of the Postal Service for the sole purpose of determining an address at which the letter can be delivered, or pursuant to the authorization of the addressee.”
The President’s signing statement reads:
“The executive branch shall construe subsection 404(c) of title 39, as enacted by subsection 1010(e) of the act, which provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection, in a manner consistent, to the maximum extent permissible, with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances, such as to protect human life and safety against hazardous materials, and the need for physical searches specifically authorized by law for foreign intelligence collection.”
Translated: “I will open people’s mail just as much as I think I can get away with, if I think there’s an emergency (exigent circumstances) or that I can get information on foreign intelligence.”