- Legal Eagle is coming in loud and clear thanks to Ting Mobile. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays postal
workers from their jobs but they never met President Donald Trump. And now is there a postal conspiracy to slow down mail to
affect the 2020 election. 2020 will go down in
history as a year dominated by the coronavirus pandemic. But in case you haven't noticed, we also have a major election coming up in just a few short months and COVID-19 spreads easily between people who are in close contact endorsed so states are scrambling for alternatives to packing people into
polling places like sardines and people are worried so
this has led to a shortage of poll workers. The best solution according to the Centers for Disease Control is to increase voting by mail. And I have an entire video
devoted to voting by mail and the potential for mail
fraud if there is one. But consistent with the
CDC's recommendation, several states have expanded
the ability of voters to vote absentee or by mail. As a result of these changes, a record 76% of American
voters will be eligible to receive a ballot in the mail for the November 2020 election. Now it's not entirely
clear because he flip-flops but it appears that President Trump is against voting by mail. - [Donald] Now they
need that money in order to have the post office work. So it can take all of
these millions and millions of ballots but if they
don't get those two items, that means you can't have
universal mail and voting. - And we can only speculate
as to why that is. And into this mess, jumped new postmaster General Louis DeJoy. The man with the surname that sounds like it should be a candy bar
is making sweeping changes at the postal service. These changes include reducing staff, taking away blue mailboxes,
prohibiting overtime and raising postage on ballots and throwing away mail sorters which this reporter caught on video. - We are at the USPS, Patterson
location where behind me, you can see a graveyard
of mail sorting pieces. They're just large pieces of machinery that had been yanked out. In addition to that, there's
also a dumpster right there. And according to an employee
that works across the way they tell me that that dumpster
has been billed three times since last week with parts and pieces of what we're being told are
the mail sorting machines. - The postal service has now warn that states may not be
able to deliver ballots in time for the November
election or deliver the ballots that are in fact cast. And despite the fact that
President Trump has tweeted that we should save the post
office, though not recognizing that he is sort of the guy in charge. It appears that President Trump is opposed to increasing funding for the
USPS and ensuring that ballots are delivered on time. Coincidence or conspiracy? Hey, Legal Eagles, it's
time to think like a lawyer because the USPS may hang in the balance. Today we're gonna take a
close look at what's happening at the postal services. Louis DeJoy deliberately
trying to impact the outcome of the election by slowing down the mail. And if so, can he be stopped? But first let's talk
about the actual structure of the US post office. The USPS delivers 40% of the world's mail. However, COVID-19 caused
a significant reduction in letter mail which is the
most profitable mail process by the post office. And the COVID-19 crisis
could not have happened at a worst time for the us post office. The volume of letter
mail has been decreasing for quite some time mostly due
to the availability of email and other options for
communicating quickly. To understand the current
issues we have to review the basic legal structure
of the US post office. The post office was established in 1775 and the US post office was
actually a cabinet level agency until 1970 when Congress passed the Postal Reorganization
Act which established the United States Postal Service as a quasi independent
self funded organization. President George W. Bush signed
the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act in 2006. The PAEA was the first broad
revision of the 1970 statute. The PAEA imposed several new requirements on how the postal service is allowed to conduct it's business. Section 101 of the PAEA
a defines postal service to mean the delivery of
letters, printed matter or mailable packages including acceptance collection sorting, transportation or other
functions ancillary there to. This section of the law
clarifies and limits what the postal service can do. Prior to this law, the post office used to sell things like prepaid
phone cards for example but this practice ended after the payout because the sale of prepaid phone cards did not fit within this definition. This was good news for the
post office competitors but bad news for the post
office's ability to self fund. And section 102 of the law
is a blanket prohibition on new products that aren't mail. Several postmaster
generals have complained that the postal service isn't permitted to legally offer banking,
cell phone logistics and other services the postal services and other countries use to
generate the income necessary to offset the cost of their
universal service obligation. Senator Bernie Sanders has suggested that the post office be allowed to provide basic banking services. - Postal service can make
billions of dollars a year by establishing basic banking services. So lower income people have access. - But this can't happen without
congressional intervention. Under title two of the
PAEA, the postal service can only offer two categories of products, market dominant products
and competitive products. The postal services
market dominant products include things like
first class mail letters, first class mail cards and media mail. With these monopolistic products, the USPS can only increase
prices in accordance with the consumer price index. This keeps the rates down for consumers but contributes to the
postal services insolvency. But given the USPS has a
monopoly on these products, there's a reason why you don't
necessarily want the prices to increase too dramatically. But competitive products include those for which a competitive
market already exists. Those include things like
priority mail, expedited mail and bulk parcel post. For these competitive products, the post office is barred from
offering prices lower than the cost of delivery. So this means that the USPS
can't undercut FedEx and USPS by offering dramatically lower prices that are below the cost
of actually delivering. And again, this benefits consumers but hurts the post office's
ability to fund itself or offer lost leaders. The PAEA also established the postal service retiree
health benefits fund. Section 801 to 803 of the
PAEA had changed the USPS from funding its retirees healthcare costs on a pay as you go basis to
pre-funding these obligations. The upshot of this is that
the post office had to create a $72 billion fund to pay for the cost of its post retirement health care cost. And the fact that the postal
service has to pre-fund its retirement obligations
from a separate account, hampers its financial prospects and this pre-funding burden applies to no other federal agency
and no private employer. Now the PAEA also created the
Postal Regulatory Commission. Now the PRC, no relation,
has significant powers but it also has to follow the requirements of the Administrative
Procedures Act or APA. We've talked about the
APA a lot on this channel but it governs the process by which federal agencies
develop regulations. It includes requirements
for publishing notices of proposed and final rulemaking
in the federal register and provides opportunities for the public to comment on notices
of proposed rulemaking. The APA also requires most rules to have a 30 day delayed effective date. The APA provides standards
for judicial review if a person has been adversely affected or aggrieved by an agency. So if the postal rate commission
maybe sweeping changes without following the
APA and spoiler alert, they did these changes
could be rolled back by a federal court. And as an aside, a lot of people ask why doesn't the postal
service run like a business. And many people have
argued that the post office isn't profitable, they claim that if it was any other business
like the Trump Taj Mahal it would have declared bankruptcy because it couldn't turn a profit. And in fact, Trump appointee
Richard Grinnell says that the post office should
just charge you a lot more to send letters and packages
to make the USPS profitable. And Senator Rand Paul
says that rural citizens such as many of the people
that he represents in Kentucky should just settle for receiving the mail just three days a week. And those changes could help make the postal service more profitable. But the postal service has legal mandate to provide universal
service to all US addresses without charging more for
more costly delivery routes. And this is known as the Universal Service
Obligation or USO. The USO is not clearly
defined in legislation but it's pieced together from
numerous laws and regulations. And the basic obligations
of the postal service are defined in 39 USC
sections 101 and 403. These statutes require the post office to provide a range of product offerings, maintain uniform prices and availability, provide efficient services to people in every geographic location in the US and make its facilities
accessible to everyone. Congress gave the post office
a monopoly on mail service in exchange for providing
all of these service benefits to the American people uniformly
in both price and service. And under 39 USC section
404D, small post offices may not be closed solely
for operating at a deficit. If the post office was legally allowed to operate like any other business, it could eliminate thousands
of unprofitable post offices in rural areas, it could cut
services to rural citizens, it could only deliver the
mail three days a week and it can charge much more
for different service routes. Now like many crises during the Trump era, these problems began long before President Trump took office but the President has
exploited some of these issues and accelerated them. The board of governors of
the USPS is responsible for overseeing the activities
of the postal service while the postmaster
general actively manages its day to day operations. A postmaster general is not
appointed by the president instead the board of
governors chooses a new person only when there's a vacancy
and the board of governors is designed to be as
nonpartisan as possible. For this reason, no more than five members can be members of the
same political party. However, right now there
are only six members of the board of governors
and all six of them were appointed by President Trump. The other vacancies have not been filled, presumably because
President Trump is required by law to appoint Democrats. The board of governors
has not been fully staffed since 2010 because
Senate Republicans refuse to confirm five nominees
by President Obama. In April, the USPS notified Congress that it was running out of money and in May, Repubican donor Louis DeJoy was named postmaster general
by the now six members of the board of governors. President Trump asked his
nominees who were the only people on the board to appoint DeJoy. They did so despite his lack of experience at the postal service, he is the first postmaster general ever to have zero experience with the USPS. He was most recently
the financial chairman of the Republican National Committee. DeJoy hasn't divested himself
of his financial holdings and a logistics company that does business with the postal service. He also went out and
purchased Amazon stock after his nomination as postmaster general which is a potential red flag
for conflict of interest. And speaking of Amazon, the company does have a
great deal with the USPS. The retail giant focuses
its own delivery network on densely populated urban
areas which keeps its costs low. However, this means
that the postal service which is required to serve everyone effectively winds up
subsidizing Amazon delivery to low population density areas. The address is that it
wouldn't be profitable for Amazon to deliver
to which coincidentally are very, very red counties
across the country. And ironically Republicans,
including President Trump have criticized the Amazon
deal as being bad for business. And in spite of or perhaps
because of this relationship with Amazon, President Trump has disagreed with various Democratic
proposals to increase funding for the post office. So let's talk about the recent
changes that DeJoy brought to the US postal service. On July 10th, DeJoy announced
a major operational pivot which imposes new significant
restrictions on the timing and nature of letter carrier routes. DeJoy admitted that
this would cause delays in the memo where he said,
we may see mail left behind or mail on the workroom
floor which is not typical. And just to be clear, DeJoy also says he didn't make any of these
controversial changes. - Could you please tell me
who did order these changes if you as postmaster general did not? - There were many, many executives
almost 30,000 executives within the organization. And there were plans that
existed prior to my arrival that will continue that were implemented. - But postal workers have been trained not to leave letters
behind, make multiple trips to ensure timely distribution of the mail. This is why they sometimes
make unscheduled deliveries or deliver mail on a Sunday. DeJoy now says that carriers
leave this mail behind for the next day which
may accumulate and pile up as time goes on. In addition, letter
carriers are now prohibited from sorting mail in the morning and delivering it in the afternoon. Instead, they will get
to the routes earlier in the morning and then
return to their posts to sort mail in the afternoon. And some of these policies
directly effect ballot delivery. On July 29th, the USPS
general council announced a policy change directly
targeting balance. Letters said that the ballot
sent by marketing mail would not be accorded
first class mail treatment and thus take longer to deliver. The postal service had
previously trained as employees to give first-class treatment to balance in any other election related materials sent as marketing mail. This change imposes much bigger
financial burdens on states which will now have to
pay 55 cents per piece for first class delivery rather
than the 20 cents per piece they previously paid. States are already
anticipating huge increases in requests for ballots. This comes at a time when state budgets are completely in shambles
because of COVID-19. In addition, postal clerks
can no longer provide a witness signature on balance and some states you need
a third party witness when you sign a mailed ballot. And the ballots typically say that voters can simply go to the post office and have a worker watch them sign that this practice is now ended. And one of the most baffling measures has been the decommissioning of 10% of the mail sorting machines
at postal service centers. These machines can sort 30,000
pieces of mail per hour. And although DeJoy said that
he would stop doing this, they've already decommissioned
95% of the machines that were planned to be disconnected. In August DeJoy ordered the postal service to remove 671 mail sorting
machines by the end of September including 24 in Ohio, 11
in Detroit, 11 in Florida, nine in Wisconsin, eight in Philadelphia and five in Arizona. What's interesting about these states is that these just happened to be states which are expected to decide the outcome of the presidential election. And DeJoy who claims he
didn't make these changes has a firm opinion on whether
he would ever reverse them. - Mr. DeJoy will you commit
to reversing these changes? - No. - These actions have already
spurred nationwide mail delays in mail collection, mail
sorting and mail delivery. And a mail processing facility
in Santa Clarita in July, workers discovered that their
automated sorting machines had been disabled and padlocked. At a large mail sorting
facility in Los Angeles, workers told the LA Times that they are so far
behind processing packages that by early August, nats
and rodents were swarming around containers of
rotted fruit and meat. And a brief warning to animal lovers, there were even some packages
containing small animals which perished in their boxes. In Southeast Washington DC, residents have gone weeks
without receiving any mail. - People have medical supplies that are delivered by the mail. They have utility bills, they have important financial documents. - Which they are not receiving and I can say personally
that one of the mailboxes that has been in my own
neighborhood in Washington DC which has been there
for years if not decades was recently removed just a few weeks ago and I've never received
an explanation why. There've been many reports of veterans and elderly citizens who
rely on mail delivery of their medication, going through delays and entire native American
tribes in California haven't received mail for weeks. So not surprisingly, this
has created all kinds of legal battles. Voters, states, advocacy
groups and candidates are suing the Trump
administration over changes at the postal service. The NAACP filed a lawsuit
against DeJoy and Trump, the NAACP is main cause of action is that the postal service ignored the postal reorganization act by failing to seek an advisory opinion from the PRC under 39 USC section 3661
before implementing changes that have a nationwide
impact on mail delivery. The postal service has
to provide an opportunity for public comment and
seek in advisory opinion from the postal rate commission. The opinion may not issue
until the commission provides an opportunity for public hearing. And here it's undisputed that
the postal service failed to do so with respect to either the pivot or the change in treatment of ballots sent by marketing mail. And Congress also mandates that the postal service shall give the highest consideration
to the requirement for the most expeditious
collection, transportation and delivery of important letter mail. The NAACP argues that the
postal services reversal of its policy of according
first class service to ballots sent by marketing
mail is inconsistent with that statutory mandate. And it's also obvious that DeJoy's changes violated the APA. The biggest question is
whether a court will order him to reverse course and remediate the steps that have already been taken. Others argue that this
violates the elections clause and the electors clause
of the constitution. Pennsylvania, Maine, California, Delaware, the District of Columbia,
Massachusetts and North Carolina have filed a lawsuit against
the federal government raising many of the same
claims as the NAACP. In addition, the state's
alleged that DeJoy actions are unconstitutional under
the elections clause. The constitution elections
clause vests authority in the states to regulate
the quote time place and manner of holding
elections for senators and representatives that
will represent the state. But only Congress may displace how a state has chosen to regulate the time place and manner of a federal election. The constitution electors
clause vest authority in the states to a point, quote, " A number of electors
equal to the whole number "of senators and representatives
to which the state "may be entitled in Congress." The plaintiff's states here
alleged they've exercised these rights by expanding voting by mail. When they pass legislation
that expanded vote by mail, they relied on the postal
services long history in delivering election
mail in a timely manner. They contend that DeJoy
abrupt changes interfere with the constitutional
power given to the states to control their own elections and other alleged violations of the first and 14th amendments. Certain voters have the
Trump administration and DeJoy actions arguing
that they are being denied their right to vote. And these suits the plaintiff's alleged that the way DeJoy is
managing the postal service will stop some voters from voting at all which would be a severe burden. Plaintiffs include people
who have medical conditions that make COVID-19 especially dangerous and people who live in remote areas and cannot travel long
distances to vote in person. And theoretically, if a
burden would essentially deny a person in the right to vote,
then it could be considered though others would argue that
everyone faces some burden in voting, it's simply a spectrum here. But the plaintiffs in these
suits say that the government doesn't have any real estate interest in making the dramatic changes. And the only interest
that postmaster DeJoy has identified as cost
saving and efficiency. Plaintiffs argue that while cost saving is important in government in
many ways, it's settled law that constitutional rights
cannot be taken away because it's too expensive to grant them. In addition, the postal services mandate to serve as an affordable
public service seems to clash with the idea that
cost-savings should interfere with constitutional rights. The plaintiffs also note that the president stated justification for denying post office funding
his own political fortunes is obviously not the kind of
legitimate government interest that would justify a burden
on voters and candidates. But some of the damage
has already been done and unfortunately, the courts
will be relatively slow to act and reports continue
that the postal service is removing blue postal
boxes all over the country. If you see this happening, you
should report it immediately and to do that, you'll need
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really helps out this channel. So do you agree with my analysis? Do you think that the
USPS is being destroyed from the inside? Leave your objections in the comments and check out the playlist over here with all of the other real law reviews, talking about all of the
crazy things that's happening in the government on
the run up to election. So that's fun. So click on this playlist
and I'll see you in court.
I still don't get how throwing away working mail sorting machines is supposed to save money.
Jon Stewart once said it best. The GOP will weaken our government institutions, ( either by mismanagement, or lack of funding , or lack of hiring ) and then complain how the govt is ineffective . Rinse. And repeat.
Fun fact. ATF still does.gum searchea via paper. NRA prohibits them from it being computerized.
Let's stop people from getting a service that is a right to every person and integral to our day to day lives. Imagine if Britain lost Royale mail.
I can't wait to get water from private companies next should I go with Sparkletts or Ozarka?
Wow America, CEO-President Trump is fucking with your mail.