If you have so mail in your car or house does LE need a warrant to open your mail or is only when its in transit?
[GeneralQuestions] Warrant for opening mail
If you have so mail in your car or house does LE need a warrant to open your mail or is only when its in transit?
[1 Points] None:
[1 Points] Theeconomist1:
I'm not a lawyer, BUT my understanding of hte law is that the special protections afforded to mail only applies while it is in transit by the carrier. Once it is out of USPS' hands, mail isn't special and would be treated like anything else to determine whether or not a warrant was required. For instance, if the mail was in your home, it'd need a warrant not b/c its mail but b/c LE needs a warrant to search your home.
There was an urban myth that went around that claimed the safe way to transport drugs in your car was to put them in a sealed USPS package and drive across state lines with the logic that b/c its "mail", its protected from search unless they get a warrant for it. Nope. Mail outside of USPS' hands is not special. It'd require a warrant if any other item required a warrant in a similar condition. Mail is only treated special while being handled by USPS.
Maybe /u/NCLawyer (/user/NCLawyer) can weigh in.
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