The signing statements President Bush has used throughout his administration have become notorious for peeling away rights and attempting to insert more and more executive privileges. Now, a new signing statement, added quietly to the end of a bill on December 20th gives him the right to open your mail and indeed ALL citizens mail under “emergency conditions.”
According to experts quoted by a New York Daily News article, the signing statement contradicts current law:
“That claim [Bush’s claim that he reserves the right to open your mail] is contrary to existing law and contradicted the bill he had just signed, say experts who have reviewed it.”
Further, “Experts said the new powers could be easily abused and used to vacuum up large amounts of mail.”
What’s so wrong with it you ask –it’s just mail isn’t it? According to the same article:
“The [Bush] signing statement claims authority to open domestic mail without a warrant, and that would be new and quite alarming,” said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies in Washington.
“You have to be concerned,” agreed a career senior U.S. official who reviewed the legal underpinnings of Bush’s claim. “It takes Executive Branch authority beyond anything we’ve ever known.”
Nope it’s much more than mail. It’s the Constitution that’s being trampled upon here as well as your right to be free from unwarranted searches and seizures. Remember we built that whole little bit about warrants into the Constitution because the Founders knew exactly what it meant not to have those protections.
It’s all another step along the way that’s designed to subvert the careful checks and balances we have in place in our government. It’s taking power away from “we the people” and delivering it to an already bloated executive.
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