Supreme Court Rules Americans Cannot Sue USPS for Intentionally Withholding Mail

The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Americans cannot sue the US Postal Service (USPS) for intentionally withholding or mishandling mail. 

The Case: The court ruled 5-4 against Texas landlord Lebene Konan in "Postal Service v. Konan." Konan, who is black, alleged that two USPS workers refused to deliver mail to her and her tenants for two years as part of a "racially motivated harassment campaign." Konan reportedly submitted dozens of complaints before filing a lawsuit against USPS under the 1946 Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). The FTCA allows certain damages lawsuits to be filed against the US and bypass the country's sovereign immunity. However, a "postal exception" disallows lawsuits "arising out of the loss, miscarriage or negligent transmission of letters or postal matter."

Majority Opinion: Justice Clarence Thomas, backed by conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Jr., Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts, wrote that "miscarriage of mail" does not regard mail carriers' intentions. He asserted that the FTCA does not alter the government's sovereign immunity in cases such as Konan's, and he argued that ruling in Konan's favor would open the doors to an influx of similar lawsuits without fair justifications.

Dissenting Opinion: Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that Thomas' argument about the potential for inundations of lawsuits did not justify the ruling. She argued that undelivered mail due to "malicious reasons" does fall under the FTCA and is "outside of the exception's scope." Liberal Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan, as well as conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined Sotomayor in dissent. 

How The Media Covered It: Media across the spectrum gave voice to both the majority and dissent. The Hill (Center bias), for instance, emphasized the back-and-forth between the opinions and juxtaposed various points of disagreement. Some media on the left, such as Associated Press (Left), focused more prominently on Konan's allegations than on the Postal Service's defenses. Meanwhile, some media on the right, such as Fox News (Right), exhibited a slanted bias toward the defense and Thomas' ruling.

Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Support our mission. Suggest an improvement to this summary.