Was Colorado Document Search Legal?

Last week, the Colorado Supreme Court heard arguments in a civil case involving questions of privacy, identity theft and undocumented workers. The question at hand: Did the Weld County Sheriff’s Office act constitutionally when it seized thousands of confidential tax documents from a local tax preparer’s office?

Prosecutors say those tax documents prove that as many as 1,300 immigrants were working with false or stolen names and Social Security numbers, the Associated Press reported (after the search, 100 people were arrested on fraud charges).

The American Civil Liberties Union however, which brought forth the civil case, says the seizure, part of the investigation law enforcement dubbed “Operation Number Games,” amounted to a violation of the privacy rights of 4,900 taxpayers, according to the Greeley Tribune. That’s because authorities looked through the documents without having the names of any specific suspects—a “classic fishing expedition” says ACLU attorney Liz Harris, according to the AP. The Tribune points out, via Weld Public Defender James Mersen, that authorities seized tax documents that covered years beyond 2006-07, the only years specified by the warrant. Earlier in 2009, the ACLU successfully sued Weld County to prevent it from filing more cases, the news agency reports.

The civil case was heard on the heels of a criminal case brought against one of the suspects whose tax records were confiscated, Ramon Gutierrez. According to the Tribune, justices will weigh in on whether the search “violated his Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure” and whether some of the case’s evidence should be suppressed. That depends on whether or not the court determines that “no reasonable police officer could have exerted ‘good faith,’ or relied on the search warrant.” Indeed, the validity of the warrant itself has come into question by the Weld authorities’ opponents.

Keep an eye out for further developments, but don’t expect them right away. The Tribune reports the court isn’t expected to rule on the criminal and civil cases for several weeks.