The city of Durango will not seek to enforce a warrant demanding Maria’s Bookshop produce customer purchase records.
“It’s a win for the First Amendment. It’s a win for the customers of Maria’s Bookshop. It’s a win for the principle that people in Durango have a right to privacy in their book purchases,” said Chris Beall, the bookshop’s attorney, a day after a resolution was reached.
In January, a Durango Police Department investigator asked the bookshop to turn over customer purchase records. When staff refused, the investigator returned with a warrant, which the store again declined to comply with, citing free speech protections.
The bookshop filed a lawsuit challenging the request, saying the warrant was illegal, violated the Colorado Constitution and threatened broader First Amendment protections. More specifically, Maria’s said requiring the store to turn over records would violate customers’ and the business’ free speech and privacy rights.
At a status conference Thursday, the city acknowledged the warrant was issued in error, and it will not attempt to enforce it.
“Mistakes were made,” said Mark Morgan, city attorney.
In the 2002 case Tattered Cover Inc. v. City of Thornton, the Colorado Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of the Tattered Cover bookstore, which had refused to comply with a police warrant seeking two customers’ purchase records during a methamphetamine lab investigation.
The justices determined that law enforcement cannot access bookstore customer records unless it demonstrates a compelling interest and shows the information cannot be obtained by other means. Otherwise, such searches could have “substantial chilling effects” on free speech rights, they warned.
The warrant served to Maria’s Bookshop did not meet that standard, the parties and the judge agreed. An attorney with the District Attorney’s office signed the investigator’s affidavit, and a judge approved the warrant.
The DPD’s investigation, related to potential sexual abuse of a minor, remains active. If police ultimately need the records for the case, the district attorney and police will request the legally required hearing with Maria’s Bookshop, according to a city news release.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
