U.S. v. Black, Nos. 76-1780 and 76-1781
| Decision Date | 19 January 1978 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 76-1780 and 76-1781 |
| Citation | 569 F.2d 1111 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert Eugene BLACK and Alternate Systems, Inc., Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Robert L. Lundblad, Kansas City, Kan., for defendants-appellants.
Douglas B. Comer, Asst. U. S. Atty., Kansas City, Kan. (E. Edward Johnson, U. S. Atty., and Richard L. Hathaway, Asst. U. S. Atty., Kansas City, Kan., on brief), for plaintiff-appellee.
Before McWILLIAMS, BARRETT, and DOYLE, Circuit Judges.
Alternate Systems, Inc., a corporation, and Robert Eugene Black, individually and in his official capacity as the president of Alternate Systems, Inc., were charged with knowingly and unlawfully establishing a private express for the conveyance of letters by regular trips over one or more post routes, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1696. The express route established was to and from the cities of Pittsburg and Frontenac, in the State of Kansas, towns between which the United States has established regular postal routes. Trial was to the court, sitting without a jury, and was based on a written stipulation of facts. By the stipulation the defendants admitted, in effect, that they were in violation of the provisions of U.S.C. § 1696, but reserved for judicial consideration the constitutionality of the statute under which they were prosecuted. The trial court upheld the constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 1696, and accordingly found both defendants guilty of the crime charged. This appeal followed.
The only issue is the constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 1696. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution provides, inter alia, that Congress shall have the power to establish post offices and post roads and to make all laws necessary for carrying into execution that power. Under the so-called "private express statutes" the United States has a monopoly on the handling of letters through the mail. 39 U.S.C. § 601, et seq. The pertinent part of 18 U.S.C. § 1696, under which the defendants were prosecuted, reads as follows:
Whoever establishes any private express for the conveyance of letters or packets, or in any manner causes or provides for the conveyance of the same by regular trips or at stated periods over any post route which is or may be established by law, or from any city, town, or place to any other city, town, or place, between which the mail is regularly carried, shall be fined not more than $500 or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
It is conceded that the private express statutes were intended to give the United States a monopoly in the delivery of letters and to preclude competition by private express. Conceding such to be the effect of the private express statutes, it is defendants' basic position here that the statutes are themselves unconstitutional for the reason that such are beyond the power granted Congress by the Constitution. Counsel relies primarily on various writings of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison to support this proposition. Whether such historical expressions have present pertinency is debatable. In any event, the proposition here argued for by the defendants is at odds with judicial precedent.
In Ex Parte Jackson, 96 U.S. 727, 24 L.Ed. 877 (1877) the Supreme Court spoke as follows:
The power vested in Congress 'to establish post-offices and post-roads' has been practically construed, since the foundation of the government, to authorize not merely the designation of the routes over which the mail shall be carried, and the offices where letters and other documents shall be received to be distributed or forwarded, but the carriage of the mail, and all measures necessary to secure its safe and speedy transit, and the prompt delivery of its contents. The validity of legislation prescribing what should be carried, and its weight and form, and the charges to which it should be subjected, has never been questioned . . . . Id. at 732.
. . . But we do not think that Congress possesses the power to prevent the transportation in other ways as merchandise, of matter which it excludes from the mails. To give efficiency to its regulations and prevent rival post systems, it may perhaps prohibit the carriage by others for hire, over postal routes, of articles which legitimately constitute mail matter in the sense in which those terms were used when ...
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U.S. Postal Service v. Brennan, 741
...exclude localities or classes from the benefit of the service. (Emphasis supplied.) The most recent opinion in point is United States v. Black, 569 F.2d 1111 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 944, 98 S.Ct. 1525, 55 L.Ed.2d 541 (1978). In Black the defendants operated a private express con......
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Associated Third Class Mail Users v. U.S. Postal Service, 78-1065
...involving conceded violations of the statute. See United States Postal Service v. Brennan, 574 F.2d 712 (2d Cir. 1978); United States v. Black, 569 F.2d 1111 (10th Cir.), Cert. denied, 435 U.S. 944, 98 S.Ct. 1525, 55 L.Ed.2d 541 (1978). Neither purported to construe the term "letter."8 See ......
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United States Postal Service v. O'BRIEN, Civ. A. No. 85-3741.
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Brennan v. United States Postal Service, A-152
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