DENVER, CO, April 12, 2000 - Two years after Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's unsuccessful attempt to subpoena records of Monica Lewinsky's book purchases, a Denver bookseller went to court today to block the execution of a search warrant intended to elicit the titles of books purchased by one of her customers. In papers filed in Denver District Court yesterday, Joyce Meskis, owner of the Tattered Cover bookstore, one of the largest independent bookstores in the country, said that being forced to reveal the records of a customer's purchases violates the First Amendment and would have a chilling effect on the Tattered Cover's customers. "My customers would be appalled if the Tattered Cover revealed their bookstore purchases either publicly or to the government without their permission," Meskis said. "I strongly believe that they would immediately discontinue making purchases from my store if they learned that Tattered Cover did not treat their purchases as private and constitutionally protected." Meskis, a former president of the American Booksellers Association and a board member of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, is the co-author of an ABFFE pamphlet, "Protecting Customer Privacy in Bookstores".

Meskis learned in March that one of her customers was being investigated when she received a subpoena for all records relating to book purchases by the customer. Through her attorney, Dan Recht of Denver, she indicated to the law enforcement officer who issued the subpoena that she believed it violated her First Amendment rights, the rights of the customer being investigated as well as those of all her customers who would not feel free to buy the books that they wanted if they knew that records of those purchases might be released to the police. The subpoena was not pressed. However, a short time later, Meskis received word that the police might obtain a search warrant for the records. On April 5, five plainclothes police officers showed up at the Tattered Cover with a warrant and insisted on conducting a search. Following a conversation with Recht and an official in the Denver District Attorney's office, they agreed to delay the execution of the warrant for one week.

In a hearing today at 10 a.m. (Mountain Daylight Time), the Tattered Cover will seek a temporary restraining order to prevent a search. If it is granted, there will be a hearing to determine whether the court will grant a preliminary injunction while the bookstore seeks a permanent injunction.

The Tattered Cover case is very similar to the litigation that grew out of the subpoenas that Starr issued in March 1998 to two Washington bookstores, Kramerbooks and a branch of Barnes & Noble. In the end, the issue of turning over the records became moot when Lewinsky agreed to let Starr have the information in return for immunity from prosecution. However, an important legal precedent was established when Federal District Court Judge Norma Holloway Johnson declared that prosecutors must weigh the potential chilling effect of their demand for bookstore records. "The First Amendment is indeed implicated by the subpoenas," Johnson declared. "The government must demonstrate a compelling interest in the information sought....{and} a sufficient connection between the information sought and the grand jury investigation."

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression expressed strong support for the Tattered Cover. "If the First Amendment means anything, it means we have the right to purchase books without fear that government will inquire into our reading habits," Chris Finan, ABFFE president.