There's actually Supreme Court caselaw saying that USPS drivers cannot be charged with anything while working. Sovereign immunity baby. That cop ain't getting nothing.
The poster has it very, very wrong. There's no Supreme Court case that says postal workers can't be charged with crimes, and mail carriers can be ticketed, cited, arrested, etc. just like anyone else.
What they're trying to talk about are two different things. The first is federal officer immunity. The rule is: a federal officer can't be held criminally liable under state law for acts that were necessary and proper to carrying out their federal duties.
The phrase "necessary and proper" is the important part. A postal worker doesn't need to break traffic laws to deliver the mail, and they aren't authorized to break traffic laws in order to deliver the mail. So it's not necessary, and it's not proper.
The second thing is sovereign immunity. That's a rule that says you can't sue the government as an entity. There are exceptions to the rule, but the principle itself has nothing to do with individual employees.
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u/eponymous-octopus Jun 09 '26
There's actually Supreme Court caselaw saying that USPS drivers cannot be charged with anything while working. Sovereign immunity baby. That cop ain't getting nothing.