National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie

Before the Skokie Affair, Frank Collin and his neo-Nazi group, the NSPA, would regularly hold demonstrations in Marquette Park, where the NSPA was headquartered. However, the Chicago authorities would eventually block these plans by requiring the NSPA to post a $350,000 public-safety insurance bond and by banning political demonstrations in the park.{{Cite news|title=The Neo-Nazis Vs. Skokie Corrected 03/15/2017]|last=Grossman|first=Ron|date=Mar 12, 2017|work=The Chicago Tribune}}{{Cite news|title=Marquette Park-'little men,' big trouble|last=Lyon|first=Jeff|date=June 13, 1976|work=Chicago Tribune}} While Collin filed a lawsuit against the city of Chicago for a violation of his First Amendment rights, he realized that his case would be delayed in the courts for far longer than he was willing to wait to begin marching again.{{Cite book|title=The Nazi/Skokie conflict : a civil liberties battle|author=Hamlin, David|date=1980|publisher=Beacon Press|others=Mazal Holocaust Collection.|isbn=978-0807032305|location=Boston|pages=[https://archive.org/details/naziskokieconfli00haml/page/19 19–22]|oclc=6734784|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/naziskokieconfli00haml/page/19}}

On October 4, 1976, Collin sent letters to the park districts of the North Shore suburbs of Chicago, requesting permits for the NSPA to hold a white-power demonstration.{{Cite web|url=http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/ref/collection/skokiepo001/id/188|title=Letter from Frank Collin to Skokie Park District, October 4, 1976 :: Skokie's Attempted Nazi March Archive|last=Collin|first=Frank|date=October 4, 1976|website=www.idaillinois.org|access-date=2018-12-04}} While some suburbs chose to ignore his letters, Skokie—home to a significant number of Jewish people, many of them survivors of the Holocaust{{Cite book|title=When the Nazis came to Skokie: freedom for speech we hate|first=Philippa |last=Strum |date=1999|publisher=University Press of Kansas|isbn=978-0700609406|location=Lawrence, Kan.|pages=7|oclc=39936668}}—chose to respond.{{Cite news|title=The Neo-Nazi Battle with Skokie: As Dispatch from the Legal Front|last=Weinberg|first=Arthur|date=February 1, 1981|work=Chicago Tribune}} At first, the Skokie mayor and village council intended to allow the NSPA to demonstrate and intended to ignore them in order to afford the NSPA as little publicity as possible.{{Cite news|title=Ugliness and swastikas in Skokie|last=Conroy|first=John|date=June 11, 1978|work=Boston Globe}}{{Cite book|title=When the Nazis came to Skokie: freedom for speech we hate|last=Strum|first=Philippa|date=1999|publisher=University Press of Kansas|isbn=978-0700609406|location=Lawrence, Kan.|pages=17–21|language=en|oclc = 39936668}} The Jewish community found this tactic unacceptable and held meetings to discuss the matter. The mayor and the village council heard their concerns, and on April 27, 1977, ordered village attorney, Harvey Schwartz, to seek an injunction.

In addition to filing an injunction, the village of Skokie passed three ordinances on May 2, 1977 in an attempt to prevent all future events similar to that which the NSPA wished to stage.{{Cite web|url=https://skokiehistory.omeka.net/exhibits/show/attempted-nazi-march/timeline/may-2-board-meeting|title=Skokie passes three ordinances|website=Skokie Public Library Digital Collections|access-date=Dec 4, 2018}} One of the ordinances prohibited wearing military-style uniforms during demonstrations,{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/06/30/nazis-march-in-skokie-ill-stirs-emotion/018e1bee-2ca1-4b56-90b8-3b2ed4471491/|title=Nazis' March in Skokie, Ill., Stirs Emotion|last=Warden|first=Rob|date=June 30, 1977|newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{Cite book|title=Untangling the web of hate: are online "hate sites" deserving of First Amendment protection?|last=Barnett|first=Brett A.|publisher=Cambria Press|year=2007|isbn=9781934043912|location=Youngstown, N.Y.|pages=91|oclc=818658372}} and the two other ordinances prohibited the distribution of material containing hate speech and a required a $350,000 insurance bond to hold a demonstration.{{Cite web|url=https://skokiehistory.omeka.net/items/show/155|title=Nazis now plan July 4 demonstration in Skokie|last1=Dubey|first1=Diane|last2=Bernstein|first2=Al|date=June 16, 1977|website=skokiehistory.omeka.net|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-04}} These ordinances effectively prevented the NSPA from holding the event.

Collin used both the injunction and ordinances as an opportunity to claim infringement upon his First Amendment rights and subsequently wanted to protest in Skokie for the NSPA's right to free speech.{{Cite news|title=The Neo-Nazis Vs. Skokie Corrected 03/15/2017]|last=Grossman|first=Ron|date=Mar 12, 2017|work=The Chicago Tribune}} On March 20, 1977, Collin notified the chief of police and park district of the NSPA's intention to protest for their right to free speech on May 1.{{Cite book|title=When the Nazis came to Skokie: freedom for speech we hate|last=Strum|first=Philippa|date=1999|publisher=University Press of Kansas|isbn=978-0700609406|location=Lawrence, Kan.|pages=16–17|language=en|oclc = 39936668}} In the letters, he stated that about 30–50 members planned to demonstrate outside of the village hall and that they planned to show signs demanding free speech for white men, including the phrases "White Free Speech", "Free Speech for White Americans" and "Free Speech for the White Men".

Collin sent another letter that contained the same details on June 22, 1977. The letter also stated that Collin was planning to stage a protest on the afternoon of July 4.{{Cite web|url=https://skokiehistory.omeka.net/items/show/115|title=Letter to Village Manager John Matzer, Jr. from Frank Collin, June 22, 1977 · Skokie History Digital Collections|website=skokiehistory.omeka.net|access-date=2018-12-09}}

The case began in Cook County court when the Skokie town government successfully sued, under the caption Village of Skokie v. NSPA, for an injunction to bar the demonstration. On April 28, 1977, the town filed suit in Cook County circuit court for an emergency injunction against the march to be held on May 1, 1977. The injunction was granted, prohibiting marchers at the rally from wearing Nazi uniforms or displaying swastikas.{{Cite web|url=https://skokiehistory.omeka.net/items/show/283|title=Village of Skokie v. National Socialist Party of America, et al., Docket No 77-2702, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Chancery Division|website=skokiehistory.omeka.net|access-date=2018-12-04}} On behalf of the NSPA, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenged the injunction. The ACLU assigned civil rights attorneys David Goldberger{{cite web|url=http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2013/01/24/new-film-explores-skokie-s-battle-neo-nazis|title=New Film Explores Skokie's Battle with Neo-Nazis|publisher=Chicago Tonight}} and Burton Joseph to Collin's cases{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/us/04joseph.html|title=Burton Joseph, Lawyer in First Amendment Cases, Is Dead at 79|last=Grimes|first=William|date=April 4, 2010|work=The New York Times|page=A22}}{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2010/04/01/burton-joseph-1930-2010-attorney-championed-civil-rights/|title=Burton Joseph, 1930-2010: Attorney championed civil rights|last=Burnette|first=Daarel|date=April 1, 2010|work=Chicago Tribune}} and argued that the injunction violated the First Amendment rights of the marchers to express themselves. The ACLU challenge was unsuccessful at the lower-court level.

The ACLU appealed on behalf of NSPA, but both the Illinois Appellate Court and the Illinois Supreme Court refused to expedite the case or to stay the injunction. The ACLU then appealed that refusal to the Supreme Court of the United States.

{{Expand section|date=May 2024}}

On June 14, 1977, the Supreme Court ordered Illinois to hold a hearing on their ruling against the National Socialist Party of America, emphasizing that "if a State seeks to impose a restraint on First Amendment rights, it must provide strict procedural safeguards, including immediate appellate review. ... Absent such review, the State must instead allow a stay. The order of the Illinois Supreme Court constituted a denial of that right." On remand, the Illinois Supreme Court returned the case to the appellate court, which ruled per curiam on July 11, 1977 that the swastika was not protected by the First Amendment.{{Cite news|title=Troubles Multiply for Nazi Leader in Chicago Suburb|last=Kneeland|first=Douglas E.|date=July 22, 1977|work=The New York Times}}{{Cite news|url=https://skokiehistory.omeka.net/items/show/171|title=No swastikas allowed: Lift march injuction|last=Dubey|first=Diane|date=July 14, 1977|work=Skokie Life|access-date=December 9, 2018}} Thus the NSPA could march, but without displaying swastikas.{{Cite news|title=High court judge upholds ban on swastikas in Skokie march|date=August 27, 1977|work=The Chicago Tribune}}{{Cite book|title=When the Nazis came to Skokie : freedom for speech we hate|last=Strum|first=Philippa|date=1999|publisher=University Press of Kansas|isbn=978-0700609406|location=Lawrence, Kan.|pages=77|oclc=39936668}}

In its full review of the case, the Illinois Supreme Court focused on the First Amendment implications of the display of the swastika. Skokie attorneys argued that for Holocaust survivors, seeing the swastika was akin to being physically attacked. The Illinois Supreme Court rejected that argument, ruling that display of the swastika is a symbolic form of free speech entitled to First Amendment protections and determined that the swastika itself did not constitute "fighting words".Village of Skokie v. Nat'l Socialist Party of America, [https://law.justia.com/cases/illinois/supreme-court/1978/49769-6.html 69 Ill.2d 605, 373 N.E.2d 21] (1978).

In parallel litigation in the federal courts, under the caption Collin v. Smith, the village's ordinance was declared unconstitutional, first by the district courtCollin v. Smith, {{cite court |vol=447 |reporter=F. Supp. |opinion=676 |court=N.D. Ill. |date=1978 |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/447/676/1621085/ |access-date=2018-08-04 }} and then by divided vote of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Over a published dissent by Justice Blackmun (joined by Justice White) detailing the history of the case and an overview of the issues involved, the U.S. Supreme Court denied further review.

In the summer of 1978, in response to the Supreme Court's decision, some Holocaust survivors built a museum on Main Street in Skokie to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center remains open today, having been moved to a new permanent location on Woods Drive in 2009.

Ultimately, the NSPA failed to march in Skokie and instead marched in Chicago, where they had gained permission. The litigation left undecided, at the Supreme Court level, whether such older precedents as Beauharnais v. Illinois and Terminiello v. City of Chicago remain authoritative statements of how the First Amendment applies to provocative and intimidating hate speech.{{Cite journal|last=Bell|first=Jeannine|date=2009|title=Restraining the Heartless: Racist Speech and Minority Rights|url=https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1618848|language=en|location=Rochester, NY|ssrn=1618848 }} According to former ACLU president Nadine Strossen, the case was part of a gradual process in the 20th century by which the Supreme Court strengthened First Amendment protections and narrowed the application of earlier decisions that had upheld restrictions of free speech, in part stemming from the realization that the Illinois restrictions on "hate speech" were so broad they could have been equally used to prohibit Martin Luther King Jr. demonstrations in Skokie.{{cite book|first1=Nadine|last1=Strossen|title=Hate: why we should resist it with free speech, not censorship|url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL26883438M/Hate|date=2018|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-19-085912-1|ol=26883438M }}

This case is obliquely referenced in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. In the film, Jake Blues asks a police officer, "Hey, what's going on?" The policeman bitterly replies, "Ah, those bums won their court case so they're marching today." To which Jake asks "What bums?" The officer replies, "The fucking Nazi Party." Elwood Blues then says "Pfft, Illinois Nazis. Pfft," to which Jake replies, "I hate Illinois Nazis."{{cite journal

|last1 = Mailland

|first1 = Julien

|author-link1 =

|display-authors =

|date = 2013

|title = The Blues Brothers and the American Constitutional Protection of Hate Speech: Teaching the Meaning of the First Amendment to Foreign Audiences

|url = https://commons.msu.edu/deposits/item/hc:35385

|format = PDF

|department =

|journal = Michigan State Law Review

|language = EN

|location = Michigan, United States

|publisher = Michigan State University

|publication-place = College of Law, Michigan State University, Michigan, United States

|volume = 21

|issue = 2

|pages = 451–460

|ref = none

|url-access =

|access-date = 3 January 2024

|url-status = bot: unknown

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240103201702/https://commons.msu.edu/deposits/item/hc:35385/

|archive-date = January 3, 2024

}}

The case was also featured in the 2020 documentary film Mighty Ira, which profiles the life and career of Ira Glasser, who defended the rights of neo-Nazis to rally in Skokie.{{Cite web |last=Linden |first=Sheri |date=2020-10-07 |title='Mighty Ira': Film Review |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/mighty-ira-film-review-4070915/ |access-date=2024-01-30 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}

• Skokie (film)
• Beauharnais v. Illinois
• Brandenburg v. Ohio
• R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul
• Virginia v. Black

{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal | first1=Lee C. | last1=Bollinger | first2=Aryeh |last2=Neier | title=The Skokie Legacy: Reflections on an 'Easy Case' and Free Speech Theory | volume=80 | issue=4 | pages=617–633 | journal=Mich. L. Rev. | year=1982 | jstor=1288226 | doi=10.2307/1288226 | url=https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol80/iss4/13 }}
• {{cite journal | first=David G. | last=Barnum | title=Decision Making in A Constitutional Democracy: Policy Formation in the Skokie Free Speech Controversy | volume=44 | issue=2 | pages=480–508 | journal=The Journal of Politics | year=1982 | doi=10.2307/2130597 | jstor=2130597 | s2cid=154879579 }}
• {{cite journal | first=Frederick | last=Schauer | title=The Wily Agitator and the American Free Speech Tradition | volume=57 | journal=Stan. L. Rev. | page=2157| year=2005 }}
• {{Cite book |title=The Nazi/Skokie Conflict: A Civil Liberties Battle |last=Hamlin |first=David |date=1980 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0807032305 |location=Boston |oclc=6734784 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/naziskokieconfli00haml }}
• {{Cite web|url=https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/national-socialist-party-america-v-village-skokie/|title=National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie|website=Columbia Global Freedom of Expression}}
• {{Cite book |title= Must We Defend Nazis?: Hate Speech, Pornography, and the New First Amendment |last1=Delgado |first1=Richard |last2=Stefancic |first2=Jean |date=1997 |publisher= NYU Press |location=New York}}
• {{Cite book |title= Defending My Enemy: American Nazis, the Skokie Case, and the Risks of Freedom |last= Neier |first= Aryeh |date=1979 |publisher= E.P. Dutton |location=New York}}

• {{caselaw source|case=National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie, {{ussc|432|43|1977|el=no}}|courtlistener=https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/109690/national-socialist-party-of-america-v-skokie/|findlaw=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/432/43.html|googlesholar=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12634874511090553174|justia=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/432/43/|loc=http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep432/usrep432043/usrep432043.pdf|oyez=https://www.oyez.org/cases/1976/76-1786}}
• [http://www.skokiehistory.info/chrono/nazis.html Chronology of Events] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202072348/http://www.skokiehistory.info/chrono/nazis.html |date=2021-02-02 }}

{{Skokie, Illinois}}

{{US1stAmendment Freedom of Speech Clause Supreme Court case law|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:National Socialist Party Of America V. Village Of Skokie}}

Category:1977 in United States case law

Category:June 1977 in the United States

Category:American Civil Liberties Union litigation

Category:Jews and Judaism in Chicago

Category:Neo-Nazism in the United States

Category:United States Free Speech Clause case law

Category:United States Supreme Court cases

Category:United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court

Category:White nationalism in Illinois