JUSTICES WEIGH READERS' RIGHTS

Police Seeking Purchase Records From Bookstore

Thursday, December 06, 2001 - If the Tattered Cover Book Store is
forced to reveal who ordered books sent to an illegal methamphetamine
lab, the action will have a far-reaching negative impact on readers,
the Colorado Supreme Court was told Wednesday.

"At stake in this case are the First Amendment rights of every
bookstore and library patron in the state of Colorado to read without
fear," Tattered Cover lawyer Dan Recht told seven justices during
arguments.

But Andy Nathan, arguing for the North Metro Task Force, which raided
the lab and found the books, said police want a single bookstore
"business record," and that doesn't have the same First Amendment
protection given other speech activities.

A Tattered Cover mailer envelope and invoice number were found
outside an Adams County trailer in March 2000, a day before the
trailer was raided and an illegal meth lab discovered. The task force
is asking the bookstore to reveal the name of the person who ordered
the books and the date the order was placed.

In the lab were two books, "Advanced Techniques of Clandestine
Psychedelic and Amphetamine Manufacture" and "The Construction and
Operation of Clandestine Drug Laboratories."

Investigators believe the books were shipped in the Tattered Cover
mailer because the books fit into the envelope and Tattered Cover
stocked the volumes.

But Recht said the bookstore never disclosed whether the books on
illegal drug manufacturing were actually the ones shipped and said
the two books didn't have the usual Tattered Cover stickers.

Nathan noted the bookstore itself has said in briefs that
"methamphetamine is a scourge on both the national and local levels."

"We agree that meth is a scourge," Nathan said. "Meth labs pose
serious dangers. They expose innocent neighbors to fires and
explosions."

In this case, Nathan said, authorities know a crime was committed.
Reading is not a crime, he said, but buying "how-to" books on
manufacturing meth and then leaving them in the meth lab can be
evidence of who committed the crime.

"If what we read today can result in a subpoena or a search warrant
tomorrow, fear replaces freedom," Recht said. "We presented three
witnesses who said there would, in fact, be a chilling effect if the
Tattered Cover was forced to turn over the information."

In a meeting with Brighton High School students shortly before the
Tattered Cover arguments were heard in the school auditorium, Mary
Mullarkey, Supreme Court chief justice, said the Tattered Cover case
and a second case heard Wednesday are "unique" because they concern
the relative rights we have as Americans.

The second case was about a man sent to prison after he was
discovered with crack cocaine in his pocket. The man was a passenger
in a car stopped for a routine traffic investigation. The officer not
only asked the driver for his identification but also the passenger.
When the officer ran a computer check, he found the passenger had
three outstanding warrants. The cocaine was found in a subsequent
search. The man claims his arrest was illegal because police had no
right to ask for his identification.

Both cases involve the constitutional "bounds and limits" on
competing interests, Mullarkey said. For instance, said the chief
justice, we have the right to read but at the same time expect police
to provide for our safety.

"These are difficult and very close cases," she said. "Imagine
yourself as the police officer or the person who ordered the books.
These are important issues in conflict."