Denver’s Tattered Cover Book Store is fighting a legal battle that affects the First Amendment rights of every American citizen.

In April, 2000, five plainclothes policemen entered the Tattered Cover and told owner Joyce Meskis that they intended to execute a search warrant for the records of one of her customers, who was suspected of illegally producing methamphetamine. Two books about the manufacture of the drug had been found at the suspect’s home. The police also found a Tattered Cover shipping envelope in the trash. They wanted to know what books the suspect had purchased around that time as well as the title or titles of the books mailed in the envelope.

Meskis objected. “If we turn over this information, our customers will start wondering if we would ever do the same to them,” Meskis explains. “It will undermine their confidence that we will do everything we can to protect the privacy of their purchases and make them afraid to buy controversial titles. That would be a tragedy for us, for them–and for free speech.” (Meskis explained her objections in an article published in the Rocky Mountain News on Oct. 30. Click here to read it.)

On Oct. 20, a Denver judge narrowed the scope of the warrant but ordered Tattered Cover to reveal the contents of one of the shipping envelope. Meskis has announced that she will appeal the decision to the Colorado Supreme Court. (To read more about the legal case, click here.)

On June 11, the Tattered Cover filed the initial brief in its appeal. The bookstore and the defendants have jointly requested the Colorado Supreme Court to accept jurisdiction in the case, bypassing the Court of Appeal.

Also on June 11, ABFFE filed an amicus brief supporting the Tattered Cover in the Court of Appeals. The brief was signed by 14 organizations, including the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association, the Colorado Freedom of Information Council, PEN American Center, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Thomas Jefferson Center for Freedom of Expression and the National Coalition Against Censorship. (The amicus brief can be read by clicking here.)