BOOK BUYERS' PRIVACY UPHELD BY COLORADO COURT

WASHINGTON - The Colorado Supreme Court yesterday ruled that the First
Amendment protects the privacy of both bookstore owners and their customers
when it refused 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 yesterday they won an
important victory.

"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. Typically,
a magistrate approves a police officer's request for a search warrant
without hearing from anyone who opposes it.

In the case decided yesterday, police were trying to determine who had run
a methamphetamine lab. Two years ago, police raided a trailer park in
Thornton, Colo., and found the lab, but it was unclear who among several
suspects was the operator.

In the bedroom of one trailer, 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 trailer's address.

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 lawyer, 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. Its judges pointed out that police had sufficient
evidence to determine who occupied the trailer where the illegal lab was
found. They did not need the book receipt to "connect" the meth lab to the
occupant of the trailer, the judges said.

"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.