Postal Service v. Konan · ¶74

As the majority recognizes, “miscarriage” commonly cov- ers negligence or inadvertence.Ante, at 400.Indeed, there are many examples of “miscarriage” being used when mail “fails to arrive” due to negligence, including as illus- trated by the Government’s own cases.See, e. g., Heinrich v. First Nat. Bank, 219 N. Y. 1, 113 N. E. 531, 531–532 (1916); Elam v. St. Louis & S. F. R. Co., 117 Mo. App. 453, 93 S. W. 851 (1906); see n. 3, infra.From here, as the majority sees it, mail that is intentionally not delivered, even for malicious reasons, also “failed to arrive properly,” so Congress must have intended to include intentional misconduct within the exception by using “miscarriage.”Ante, at 399–400.The majority, however, offers no persuasive evidence suggesting that “miscarriage” is commonly used in this way.

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