Supreme Court to hear USPS racial bias case involving mail delivery refusal.
A woman in Texas has brought a case to the Supreme Court that could change how Americans are allowed to sue the federal government—especially the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Lebene Konan, a Black woman who works as a real estate agent and insurance professional, claims that postal workers stopped delivering mail to her rental properties because of her race. According to her, the local post office even went so far as to change the lock on her P.O. box and stopped all deliveries for several months. She believes the reason for this treatment was because the postal carrier and postmaster “did not like the idea that a Black person” owned the properties in that neighborhood.
Konan filed a lawsuit based on a law that has been around since 1946. This law gives people the ability to sue the government when federal workers cause harm or damage. But there’s a catch. The law includes some exceptions. One of those exceptions says that if your issue has to do with lost or misdelivered mail, you can’t sue. The main issue in this case is whether Konan’s experience falls under that exception—or whether the court will agree that her complaint is about discrimination, not just lost mail.
At first, a judge in Texas sided with the government and dismissed the case. That court said her lawsuit couldn’t go forward because it dealt with USPS mail delivery. But when the case went up to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, the judges there disagreed. They ruled that Konan should be allowed to bring her case to court. Now, the Biden administration has asked the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling, saying it opens the door for too many lawsuits.
In the government’s argument to the Supreme Court, they say this could lead to a lot of trouble for the Postal Service. Each year, the USPS handles over 116 billion pieces of mail for more than 166 million homes and businesses. If this case moves forward, the government argues, anyone with a complaint about lost or delayed mail could potentially file a lawsuit, as long as they claim a worker did it on purpose. That could tie up the courts with endless lawsuits and expensive legal processes.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the USPS case later this year and is expected to make a decision sometime in 2025. The outcome could not only affect how Konan’s case moves forward but also reshape how other people can bring legal action against federal agencies when they believe they’ve been treated unfairly.
On the same day, the Court also made another major decision: it refused to reconsider a lower court ruling that struck down Minnesota’s law banning people under 21 from carrying handguns in public. A group of judges had already ruled that the law violated both the Second and 14th Amendments. They said the state couldn’t stop people aged 18 to 20 from getting a carry permit simply because of their age.
Minnesota had asked the Supreme Court to step in, especially in light of a recent decision that adjusted how courts should look at the history of gun laws when deciding what’s allowed. That case allowed a gun ban for people with domestic violence restraining orders, using a slightly more flexible view of history. Still, the Court declined to take up the Minnesota case for now, so the ban remains blocked.
Together, these cases reflect how ongoing court battles continue to shape everyday life—from getting your mail delivered to who can legally carry a gun. And as these legal questions unfold, the Supreme Court’s role remains as active and powerful as ever.
Sources:
Supreme Court To Hear Case of Texas Woman Who Alleges Mail Carrier Refused Delivery Due to Her Race
Join the conversation!