ABFFE may soon go to court to force the Justice Department to reveal how many subpoenas have been issued to booksellers under the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act. Last week, ABFFE joined the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for this and other information about the implementation of the broad surveillance powers given to the FBI when the PATRIOT Act was approved in October. The groups have asked that their request be handled on an expedited basis, which requires a reply within 10 days. If the Justice Department does not reply or rejects the request, the FOIA authorizes applicants to appeal to the courts.

ABFFE and its partners took action after the Justice Department refused to give the House Judiciary Committee information it had requested in June, including the number of bookstore, library and newspaper subpoenas issued under the PATRIOT Act. The department said this information is classified and will only be turned over to the House Intelligence Committee, which has procedures for protecting the secrecy of the information. The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) has announced that he may subpoena Attorney General John Ashcroft in an effort to obtain the information that the committee is seeking.

A federal judge in Dayton issued a temporary restraining order on August 2 enjoining the enforcement of Ohio's law banning the sale to minors of books, magazines and other material that is "harmful to minors." ABFFE and a Dayton bookstore, Wilkie News, joined the Association of American Publishers, the Freedom to Read Foundation and other members of Media Coalition in challenging the law because it does not conform to U.S. Supreme Court guidelines. Among other things, the law bans the sale to minors of works that use "foul language" or describe violence. It also extends the ban on "harmful" material to the Internet. The state of Ohio is expected to appeal.

As booksellers and librarians around the country prepare to mount displays for Banned Books Week (Sept. 21-28), Books & Books of Coral Gables, Florida, and Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, have decided to use the occasion to raise money for ABFFE. Inspired by a successful fundraiser held at a Clean, Well Lighted Place for Books in San Francisco in January, Books & Books will hold an event on Sept. 21 featuring readings by Pat Conroy, Cassandra King and other well-known authors.

The Clean, Well-Lighted event, which was the idea of author Lemoney Snicket, attracted more than a dozen Bay area authors who helped raise money for the Tattered Cover Book Store's legal defense of customer privacy. Books & Books owner Mitchell Kaplan hopes that authors attending the South East Booksellers Association trade show in nearby Ft. Lauderdale on the weekend of Sept. 21-22 will join Conroy and King in raising money to support ABFFE's defense of First Amendment rights.

Meanwhile, Powell's Books has announced that it will give ABFFE the profits from the sale of books at a Sept. 25 event featuring Salman Rushdie. ABFFE was organized soon after the eruption of violence that greeted the publication of Rushdie's "Satanic Verses." It strongly supported the publication and sale of the book.