COURT RULES FOR BOOKSTORE

Tattered Cover Doesn't Have To Turn Over Records In Meth-Lab Probe

Tuesday, April 09, 2002 - The Colorado Supreme Court refused Monday to
force the Tattered Cover Book Store to turn over sales records to aid in a
drug investigation, saying that both the U.S. and Colorado constitutions
protect an individual's fundamental right to purchase books anonymously.

In March 2000, the North Metro Drug Task Force tried to obtain book-
purchasing records of a suspected methamphetamine lab operator. Members of
the task force had recovered a Tattered Cover mailer outside the lab, set
up in an Adams County mobile home, and recovered two "how-to" meth books
inside the trailer. Officials said they needed the information to identify
the lab operator.

In a ruling with national implications, Justice Michael Bender said
law-enforcement officials impinge on individuals' rights when they seek
customer records from innocent, third-party booksellers.

In the 6-0 opinion, the court said the ruling doesn't preclude law
enforcement from ever getting the records, particularly when the records
don't involve the contents of the books. But Bender wrote that before such
records are ordered turned over, law-enforcement officials must
"demonstrate a compelling governmental need" for the records. Bender added
that any time law-enforcement officials want to execute a search warrant on
a bookstore in Colorado, the bookstore is entitled to a hearing to
challenge the action.

The case was the first of its kind decided by a state supreme court.

"I think the decision will be upheld as the decision to go to when other
courts confront this issue," said Dan Recht, lawyer for the bookstore.

Steve Zansberg, who filed a brief on behalf of the Tattered Cover for a
host of organizations, agreed the 51-page opinion will be a "bellwether
opinion for other states to follow."

The North Metro Drug Task Force plans to gather the remainder of evidence
it has on the meth lab where the books were found, then will obtain arrest
warrants next week for as many as five people, said Lt. Lori Moriarty.

"The piece of information we were seeking here was critical, but we will go
forward with the case as best we can," Moriarty said during a news
conference in Thornton. "The ruling today, I feel, puts another hurdle in
front of law enforcement when we're trying to prosecute."

The task force has not decided whether to appeal the ruling, but Recht said
that no appeal is possible because the state Supreme Court is the final
arbiter on matters related to the state constitution.

Justice Bender said the case revolved around the rights of Americans to
read whatever they want without fear the government is looking over their
shoulders.

"We recognize that both the United States and Colorado constitutions
protect an individual's fundamental right to purchase books anonymously,
free from governmental interference," Bender said. "Bookstores are places
where a citizen can explore ideas, receive information, and discover the
myriad perspectives on every topic imaginable. When a person buys a book at
a bookstore, he engages in activity protected by the First Amendment
because he is exercising his right to read and receive ideas and information."

Denver attorney Bruce Jones, who filed a brief in support of the bookstore
on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, said the
ruling was written "with a breadth of analysis that will extend beyond just
Colorado just because of how thorough and careful and persuasively the
court presented its analysis."

Joyce Meskis, owner of the Tattered Cover, said the decision is not only a
victory for readers and book purchasers in Colorado but also "an important
precedent for readers, bookstores and library patrons throughout the
country." They can now look to Colorado law for "guidance when the First
Amendment rights of readers collide with the desires of enforcement," she said.

In Monday's opinion, Bender noted that the First Amendment protects more
than simply the right to speak freely. He said the amendment safeguards a
wide spectrum of activities, including the right to distribute and sell
expressive materials and the right to receive information, as in the
Tattered Cover case.

These rights, he said, are necessary to the uninhibited exercise of the
specifically enumerated right of "freedom of speech." Without the right to
receive information and ideas, he said, the protection of free speech would
be meaningless.

Andrew Nathan, the lawyer who sought the records on behalf of the city of
Thornton and the North Metro Drug Task Force, said that "we now have a set
standard about how to go about getting these records.

"The Supreme Court . . . has given us a blueprint," Nathan said.

The task force seized 73 methamphetamine labs in Adams County last year,
and 38 through March of this year. "Meth labs are a high concern for us
because of the dangers they create," Lt. Moriarty said.