The Transformation of Statutes into Constitutional Law: How Early Post Office Policy Shaped Modern First Amendment Doctrine

New communication technologies often have been accompanied by utopian dreams of a society unencumbered by ignorance, inequality, and poverty. However, the American Post Office-a medium of communication that, like the Internet, developed through a substantial amount of governmental policy-served as a very real vehicle for a transformation in American constitutional law. Early American policymakers gave the Post Office specific attributes that helped established the Post Office as a "First Amendment institution," an institution whose role judges recognized as furthering First Amendment values in unique ways.