Another intrusion.

Byline: The Register-Guard

In other times, a president's decision to cast aside the Fourth Amendment and usurp the lawmaking powers of Congress would make a big splash. But President Bush's view of executive authority is so expansive that it has become almost routine to find that he has extended his reach into another corner of American life and another clause of the Constitution. When Bush claimed for his administration the right to read people's mail without first obtaining a warrant, there was little news coverage and scarcely a peep of protest from Congress.

Late last month Congress sent to the president a routine postal reform bill. Bush exercised what he believes to be his prerogative by adding a "signing statement" to the bill:

"The executive branch shall construe subsection 404(c) of title 39, as enacted by subsection 1010(e), which provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection, in a matter 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."

Translation: The government can read your mail if it thinks it has good reason to do so, without bothering to get a warrant signed by a judge.

Bush's assertion of the power to conduct searches plainly runs counter to the Fourth Amendment, which guarantees 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. ..." For centuries the mail has been regarded as strongly protected by the Fourth Amendment - partly because correspondence often deals with confidential or intimate matters, and partly because the potential for abuses by an arm of the government such as the U.S. Postal Service has long been recognized.

The president's signing statement also brushes aside congressional intent. A provision of the bill explicitly reinforced protections against warrantless searches of private mail. The signing statement did not clarify the legislation or explain how it would be implemented - instead, Bush edited the bill, rewriting it in a way more to his liking. If the president can change bills to say the opposite of what Congress intended, the country no longer has an effective legislative branch.

A White House spokeswoman denied that the president was claiming new authority. "In certain circumstances, such as with the proverbial 'ticking bomb,' the Constitution does not require warrants for reasonable searches," she said.

The Fourth Amendment says nothing about bombs, ticking or otherwise. A presidential power has been conjured from thin air, eliminating the need to demonstrate probable cause to a judge of a criminal court or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This power is not needed to thwart terrorists or drug dealers - the courts have no record of obstructing justified searches, and the Postal Service has the authority to withhold mail delivery while a warrant is sought. The signing order is purely a matter of convenience and might, cloaked in the threadbare language of national security.

It should concern everyone that the government says it can read their mail without answering to anyone. More worrisome yet is the fact that Americans have grown accustomed to such intrusions.