Bush administration defends warrantless mail inspection

0 Comments | USA TODAY, January, 2007 | by Mimi Hall and David Jackson

WASHINGTON -- The White House on Thursday defended a policy allowing the government to open mail without a warrant, despite criticism that the crime-fighting tactic might lead to privacy breaches. Bush administration and U.S. Postal Service officials said citizens' mail remains constitutionally protected from unreasonable search and seizure.

But White House spokesman Tony Snow said the United States needs to have the power to inspect mail in emergencies. The mail controversy erupted Wednesday after a report in the New York Daily News that President Bush on Dec. 20 attached a so-called signing statement to a new postal law. The statement grants the government the authority during emergencies to bypass a law forbidding mail to be opened without a warrant. Snow said Bush was...