This signing-statement crap is getting out of hand. Instead of vetoing bills and sending them back to Congress where (heaven forbid) they would be debated and brought into the public eye, he “signs” them while simultaneously emasculating them and exempting his office from the laws they establish. Bush recently used this tactic to render the Postal Reform bill pretty much useless.

President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans’ mail without a judge’s warrant, the Daily News has learned.

The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20. Bush then issued a “signing statement” that declared his right to open people’s mail under emergency conditions.

That claim is contrary to existing law and contradicted the bill he had just signed, say experts who have reviewed it.

Bush’s move came during the winter congressional recess and a year after his secret domestic electronic eavesdropping program was first revealed. It caught Capitol Hill by surprise.

Here is the exact wording of the assertation that he can read mail used in the signing statement itself:

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

There’s a lot more, but this alone basically gives the President the right to read your mail without a warrant just by declaring he needs to.