It seems that, just before Christmas, the president signed a bill related to the post office. That bill reaffirmed existing law that clearly states that mail can be opened by the government only with a search warrant. The Fourth Amendment allows no other option.
Our lawless president took the opportunity to add a signing statement http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/12/20061220-6.html to assert that the law did not apply when he, the decider, thought it was an emergency national security situation. As usual with such assertions, there is no definition or limits on this asserted power.
So, to sum up, the decider can decide to:
- Lock people up indefinitely without charge or trial
- Listen in on phone calls
- Record all the phone numbers you call or that call you
- Investigate what books you read, what movies you see
- Track all your monetary transactions
- Monitor your e-mail activity
- Read your paper mail
All this without the concurrence of any judge or needing to state any prima facia reason to do so. How is this functionally different from the actions of the KGB in the old USSR? You know, the country of the Godless Communists. Oh Yeah! That is the difference. We have God on our side.
I am so glad that I live in a free country under the rule of law where the government exists to protect my rights, not to take them away.
