Postal Service sued over seizure of Black Lives Matter masks

A California screen printer sued the U.S. Postal Service after it seized shipments of COVID-19 face masks bearing Black Lives Matter slogans.

​​Movement Ink owner René Quiñonez said in the lawsuit that the masks were shipped to Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Minneapolis. But four boxes were labeled as “Seized by Law Enforcement,” delaying the shipment by 48 hours, according to court documents. 

“The Fourth Amendment guarantees us the right to be secure in our papers and effects,” the lawsuit, first obtained by NBC, said. 

“That promise is illusory if postal officials can seize or search personal property without an individualized, articulable basis to believe that the property contains contraband or evidence of a crime. Worse yet would be if postal officials could seize or search personal property because of its political message,” it continued.

The lawsuit argues that the postal service “did not have reasonable suspicion” to seize “four properly addressed and neatly taped brown boxes.”

The complaint also alleges that people who should have received the masks were “deprived the Covid-protective effects of the masks, but also expression of the political messages emblazoned on the masks” and tainted the company’s business relationships because of the delay.

“When there’s an organization or a company that now has a reputation for being a target of law enforcement, people don’t want to do business with them,” Quiñonez told NBC.

“Even the people that are like-minded, that know that there are fundamental flaws in the way that we address things, they need to protect their interests. So we lost business.”

The U.S. Postal Service declined to comment on the pending litigation. 

—Updated 1:40 p.m.