Durango agrees not to pursue bookstore warrant as Colorado judge enters permanent injunction

(CN) — A Colorado judge on Thursday entered a permanent injunction barring the Durango Police Department from forcing a local bookshop to hand over customer book purchase records — an order amicably supported by both the city and the business that sued to quash the warrant.

“We ask you to indicate the city consented to this and we’re doing the right thing,” said Durango City Attorney Mark Morgan in court. “Everyone on the city’s side now understands that a contradictory hearing is required for this type of warrant.”

In January, Durango Detective Sydney Walters approached an employee at Maria’s Bookshop asking for the purchase history of a particular customer, the store’s owner said in a complaint. The employee explained the business’s customer privacy policy and declined to provide records. Walters then filed a request for an order compelling the bookstore to produce the book buy records.

In a statement, Morgan said the records were requested as part of an investigation into a sexual crime against a minor.

The court granted the order on Jan. 15, finding probable cause the records would provide insight into a criminal case. It is not clear from the order what criminal offenses the police department is investigating.

Maria’s Bookshop sued Walters and the city of Durango on Feb. 20, claiming fulfilling the request for records without a court hearing violated both the state and federal constitutions. A state judge granted a temporary restraining order blocking the search on Monday.

In Thursday’s hearing, Morgan said the warrant should have never been granted without first holding a hearing in which a judge could weigh the customers’ right to privacy against the investigation.

“We take the position that it should not be enforced, so we ask that the temporary restraining order remain in place,” Morgan said.

While the city of Durango maintained its right to file a new warrant — and undergo the required hearing — Senior Judge Douglas Walker entered the permanent injunction and closed the case.

Attorney Christopher Beall, who practices with Recht Kornfeld in Denver, represented the 42-year-old Durango bookstore.

The right to keep book purchases private was upheld in federal court with the quashing of an attorney’s 1998 subpoena to obtain Monica Lewinsky’s book purchase history from Kramers bookstore in Washington, D.C. Locally, Colorado Supreme Court precedent dates back to the 2002 case Tattered Cover v. Thornton, which also affirmed the right to anonymously buy books.

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