COURT: BOOKSTORE OWNER NOT REQUIRED TO REVEAL CUSTOMER

DENVER -- The Colorado Supreme Court refused to order a bookstore
Monday to tell police who bought two how-to books on making illegal
drugs, saying the First Amendment and state Constitution protect the
right to purchase books anonymously.

The unanimous 6-0 decision overturns a ruling by a Denver judge who
said Tattered Cover Book Store owner Joyce Meskis must give records
of the sale to a Denver-area drug task force.

Police and prosecutors in the closely watched case had argued that
the buyer's identity was critical to their investigation of a
methamphetamine lab and that they had no other way to prove who owned
the books.

But the high court declared that the First Amendment and the Colorado
Constitution "protect an individual's fundamental right to purchase
books anonymously, free from governmental interference."