In a March 2000 raid on a methamphetamine laboratory in a Denver suburb, local drug agents found two books, The Construction and Operation of Clandestine Drug Laboratories and Advanced Techniques of Clandestine Psychedelic and Amphetamine Manufacture. They also found an envelope bearing an invoice number from the Tattered Cover, one of the country’s best known independent bookstores and one of Denver’s most beloved institutions.

    Although police had identified several suspects in the case, they had not been able to identify the owner of the drug lab. In April, police officers turned up at the Tattered Cover with a search warrant seeking the purchaser’s name and a record of book purchases over a 30-day period.

    The Tattered Cover’s owner, Joyce Meskis, refused to comply, fearing the potential chilling effect of government scrutiny of book purchase records on her patrons’ exercise of their First Amendment rights. (As a columnist for the Denver Post pointed out, "the books, while not Nobel Prize winners, are perfectly legal to write, publish, sell, purchase, and read.") A quiet and unassuming individual, Meskis is absolutely fierce when it comes to defending free speech. A recipient of the PEN American Center’s Paul Newman First Amendment Award, Meskis has for more than two decades been in the forefront of efforts to protect First Amendment rights.

    Earlier Meskis gained notice when she insisted on displaying and selling Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses in the face of threatened violence. (She donated profits from the sale to anti-censorship groups.) Meskis has repeatedly refused to bow to pressure to keep controversial authors from appearing at her stores, and has been a leader in the fight against state and federal legislation that would undermine First Amendment rights. Her philosophy is summed up in an open letter to her customers, displayed on the wall of the Tattered Cover, in which she states that "censorship in any form, whether by individuals, special interest groups, or by government is seriously damaging to every citizen of this country...."

    Meskis went to court to fight the search warrant. After granting a temporary restraining order, Colorado District Court Judge J. Stephen Phillips significantly narrowed the original search warrant but ordered the bookstore to disclose the contents of the shipping envelope that police had removed from the trash at the crime scene. Tattered Cover, Inc. v. City of Thornton, Case No. 00CV 1761 (Denver City and County Dist. Ct. Oct. 20, 2000).

    Meskis has appealed the order to the Colorado Supreme Court, and her principled stand has struck a resonant chord in Denver and around the country. Both of Denver’s major newspapers have featured editorials and op-ed pieces applauding her actions, and stories about her fight have appeared in both the New York Times and Washington Post.

    Borders Books, faced with a similar situation, fared better in federal district court in Kansas City, Mo. In September 2000 Borders received a subpoena in connection with a DEA investigation, ordering it to turn over to a grand jury all records identifying books purchased with a particular VISA card. Borders filed a motion in federal district court seeking to have the subpoena quashed. On Nov. 28 the district court, in a one-paragraph order, granted the motion. The records of the proceeding are under seal so the text of the judge’s order is not available.