It seems that it would entirely depend upon why the state wished to access
the purchasing records of an individual indicted for a crime. If it is to
establish a fact to be argued to the jury, e.g. that the defendant purchased
such and such a book on how to manufacture a pipe bomb a week before a
blowing a day school, I'd say getting the bookstore records were pertinent.
David Leone
Waller Lansden Drotch & Davis
Nashville, TN
-----Original Message-----
From: Luis Acosta [mailto:lacosta@law.howard.edu]
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2000 4:37 PM
To: Baker, Brian L.
Cc: 'Law-Lib List'
Subject: Re: Bookstores again requested to hand over purchase
information
I agree with Brian that this is regrettable. It is disheartening that a
U.S. Attorney in this administration would choose to subpoena bookstore
records in gathering evidence in what appears to be a relatively minor
drug case. One difference should be noted between this incident and the
KramerBooks incident, however: here the bookstore in Colorado forced
the prosecutor to show cause to the judge why the subpoena should be
enforced, rather than simply voluntarily complying with the subpoena, as
KramerBooks originally planned to do in the Monica Lewinsky matter
(until the law librarian community, led by Sharon Kissel, decided to
make some noise, as recounted in the June 1998 AALL Spectrum). So the
Colorado store, The Tattered Cover, should be applauded for resisting
the subpoena -- and forcing a judge to weigh this violation of privacy
and the right to read against the prosecutor's interest in gathering
evidence.
Luis Acosta
"Baker, Brian L." wrote:
>
> Colleagues,
>
> You may remember a couple of years ago when Kenneth Starr tried to get a
> Washington, DC bookseller, Kramer Books, to turn over the purchase records
> of Monica Lewinsky. There was a large hue and cry from librarians.
>
> It is happening again.
>
> see http://www.newsday.com/ap/topnews/ap377.htm for an article about a
book
> seller in Colorado being forced to turn over purchase records by a Federal
> Judge.
>
> This is, IMHO, wrong.
>
> Brian
>
> Brian L. Baker, JD, MLS
> Director of the Law Library & Assistant Professor of Law
> UDC David A. Clarke School of Law
> bbaker@law.udc.edu www.law.udc.edu
> 202-274-7354 Fax: 202-274-7311
> The secret of education is respecting the pupil.
> -Ralph Waldo Emerson
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