Pubdate: Tue, 09 Apr 2002 Source: Helena Independent Record (MT) Copyright: 2002 Helena Independent Record Contact: http://helenair.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1187 UPHOLDING THE 1ST AMENDMENT Denver's huge Tattered Cover Book Store is to book lovers as Christmas is to kids. The spacious, multi-storied home of one of the country's largest independent bookstores caters to a reader's every whim. It also cares about its readers' privacy, and Monday it won a big victory in that regard. The Colorado Supreme Court refused to order the store to tell police who bought two how-to books on making illegal drugs, finding that the First Amendment and the state constitution "protect an individual's fundamental right to purchase books anonymously, free from governmental interference." A lower court had ordered the store to turn over the buyer's identity to the police, who contended the information was critical to their investigation of a methamphetamine lab and that they had no other way to prove who owned the books. Store owner Joyce Meskis appealed, contending the order violated her customers' First Amendment rights. Legal observers noted that the case does not prohibit police from obtaining bookstore records, but it sets a higher standard. Police must show a compelling need for the information, rather than just a "substantial and legitimate interest." As often is the case in such disputes, the issues don't come only in black and white. We want police to apprehend people who make meth. Yet, we don't want the government snooping into our reading habits. That's a really slippery slope. (Recall the clamor when Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr subpoenaed Monica Lewinski's purchase records from a Washington, D.C., bookstore.) In the end, the Colorado justices unanimously upheld the deepest principle. Police have many routine ways to catch criminals. But only the courts stand between citizens and police-state-like surveillance of their reading matter. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth