Subpoenaed Book Not About Drugs
Last year when drug cops served a subpoena on Denver's Tattered Cover book store to learn which book a suspect had purchased, the store stood firm in its belief that a book purchaser has a First Amendment right of privacy in the books he buys and reads. They took the case to the Colorado Supreme Court and won. Even though they knew, as the public did not, that the book did not pertain to meth dealing. This was revealed yesterday, at a Denver Press Forum luncheon.
A book at the heart of a controversial drug case that went all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court isn't about drugs at all. It was a calligraphy book about how to draw Japanese characters.It was never about whether the cops were right or wrong. It was about privacy. Thank goodness there are still independent booksellers out there like Joyce Meskis, owner of the Tattered Cover. Patronize them.For nearly two years, investigators in the North Metro Drug Task Force tried to obtain a receipt they thought was linked to two books they found in a mobile home that had been used as a methamphetamine lab.
But their attempt to obtain a receipt from the Tattered Cover bookstore led to a ground-breaking legal case in which the state's highest court upheld the store's right to protect its customer's privacy.
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