Doesn't the USPS fall under the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887

[Budi]

Just curious here & searching for an answer to this probem.
Anyone care to weigh in?

Sounds like pre-1887 it was for transport of goods etc.
After 1887 to accommodate a changing nation, it may have also included other things, perhaps Commerce by mail.
This is what I'm searching for.
Looks like Congress may have some discretion, here.
Thanks
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The Interstate Commerce Act Is Passed
February 4, 1887

https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Interstate_Commerce_Act_Is_Passed.htm


SNIP
"Before 1887, Congress had applied the Commerce Clause only on a limited basis, usually to remove barriers that the states tried to impose on interstate trade. The Interstate Commerce Act showed that Congress could apply the Commerce Clause more expansively to national issues if they involved commerce across state lines.

After 1887, the national economy grew much more integrated, making almost all commerce interstate and international. The nation rather than the Constitution had changed. That development turned the Commerce Clause into a powerful legislative tool for addressing national problems."

[Prof. P.E. Name]

1. Interstate Commerce Act vs. Commerce Clause

Commerce Clause is in the Constitution; IC act is a law passed by Congress.

CC deals with unreasonable burdens, primarily those imposed by state governments, on commerce that flows over state lines into other states. Not used very much before IC Act of 1887.

IC act deals with the need of Congress to superimpose Federal hegemony over state action that could be construed as a burden on interstate commerce. In this instance, it was the approval or disapproval of monopolistic railroad rates on agricultural products in the early West. The nub of the Act was that Congress could regulate private actions, which it then did by delegating this activity to an agency, the ICC. This formed the basis for all Federal government regulation of many other kinds of private activities, i.e., air,water, food quality, etc.

None of this deals with the USPS.

[Budi]

4. Ok. How bout this.

18 U.S. Code § 1703.Delay or destruction of mail or newspapers


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Next Post.

[Budi]

2. And This? I know Congress has their hands full but..anything they can do?

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1703

18 U.S. Code § 1703.Delay or destruction of mail or newspapers


(a)Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, unlawfully secretes, destroys, detains, delays, or opens any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail entrusted to him or which shall come into his possession, and which was intended to be conveyed by mail, or carried or delivered by any carrier or other employee of the Postal Service, or forwarded through or delivered from any post office or station thereof established by authority of the Postmaster General or the Postal Service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(b)Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, improperly detains, delays, or destroys any newspaper, or permits any other person to detain, delay, or destroy the same, or opens, or permits any other person to open, any mail or package of newspapers not directed to the office where he is employed; or
Whoever, without authority, opens, or destroys any mail or package of newspapers not directed to him, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.