COURT UPHOLDS PRIVACY OF BOOK BUYERS

Retailer Can Refuse To Turn Over Records

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution protects the privacy
of both bookstore owners and their customers when it refused yesterday to
force a Denver retailer to turn sales records over to police.

Legal experts predicted that the decision would slow, if not halt, the
recent trend of investigators seeking records of book purchases or video
rentals as a quick way to track suspects or bolster a prosecution.

Four years ago, independent counsel Kenneth Starr surprised booksellers
when he subpoenaed the records of a Washington, D.C., store, seeking
information on purchases made by Monica Lewinsky.

Since then, there has been "an alarming increase in the number of bookstore
subpoenas and search warrants" -- including requests to online booksellers
- -- said Chris Finan, president of the American Booksellers Foundation for
Free Expression.

But the bookstore owners have fought back, and they won an important
victory yesterday.

First Amendment Rights

"The First Amendment embraces the individual's right to purchase and read
whatever books she wishes to, without fear the government will take steps
to discover which books she buys, reads and intends to read," the Colorado
court said in a unanimous decision.

This "fundamental constitutional right . . . to purchase books anonymously"
cannot be swept aside, the judges said, except in the rare instance where
police can show the information is absolutely essential and cannot be
obtained in any other way.

Moreover, the "innocent, third-party bookseller" deserves an opportunity to
contest these claims in a special hearing, the state court said.

Meth Lab Case Evidence

In the case decided yesterday, police were trying to determine who among
several suspects operated a methamphetamine lab that officers had raided.

Police found two how-to books on making illegal drugs. They also found a
mailing envelope from the Tattered Cover, a popular Denver bookstore, but
there was no receipt to show who had purchased the books and no name on the
envelope -- only the address of the trailer containing the lab.

Search Warrant Resisted

The officers obtained a subpoena from the Drug Enforcement Administration
for the purchase records. Joyce Meskis, the owner of Tattered Cover,
refused to comply.

Police then obtained a search warrant from the Denver district attorney's
office. Six officers went to the bookstore to carry out the search, but
Meskis contacted her attorney, who persuaded prosecutors to wait until a
hearing could be held.

The trial judge concluded that the police had shown a strong need for the
information and upheld the search warrant.

But Colorado's highest court immediately took up the issue and quashed the
search warrant yesterday.

Since the ruling relies, in part, on Colorado's state constitution, it is
not a binding precedent for courts around the nation. But Colorado's
Supreme Court is the only one to rule on the issue, Finan said, and it
could serve as an important influence on future cases.

"Not only is this case a victory for readers and book purchasers in
Colorado, (but) we believe the court's opinion sets an important precedent
for readers, bookstores and library patrons throughout the country," Meskis
said.