Bush does it again

[unixronin]

WASHINGTON - President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant, the Daily News has learned.

The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20.  Bush then issued a "signing statement" that declared his right to open people's mail under emergency conditions.

That claim is contrary to existing law and contradicted the bill he had just signed, say experts who have reviewed it.

[...]

"Despite the President's statement that he may be able to circumvent a basic privacy protection, the new postal law continues to prohibit the government from snooping into people's mail without a warrant," said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the incoming House Government Reform Committee chairman, who co-sponsored the bill.

"A word means what I want it to mean; nothing more, and nothing less."  So said Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass.  George W. Bush continues to demonstrate that he holds much the same opinion about laws and the Constitution.

(Crossposted by request to neph_politics)

Comments

[fruitylips.livejournal.com]

Your quote applies pretty well to the NY Daily News article, rather than the President's statement. What Bush said was "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."

In short, his claim is that the previous standard of 'exigent circumstances' would still apply and he's claiming that this law doesn't trump FISA. Claiming that this is 'new powers' is just nonsense.

It is very possible that Congress was trying to limit the old standards and FISA. Bush, however, is saying the Executive Branch's interpretation is that in these powers still apply as that have for years. In any case, Waxman's statement and this article are pretty much lying or horrifically mistaken.

For the record, 404c says "(c) 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."