The assurance of an appeal by the Village of Skokie to the Supreme Court for a stay of a federal circuit court ruling that the village could not ban a march by a small group of Chicago Nazis and the likelihood that the village will not give the Nazis the march permit for which they have applied made prospects for the march more unlikely than ever, a spokesman for the Jewish United Fund (JUF) of Metropolitan Chicago said today.
He cited repeated statements by Frank Collin head of the tiny National Socialist Party of America, that the Nazis would not march in Skokie, a suburb of Chicago which is the home of some 7000 survivors of the Holocaust, until all court challenges were settled.
Collin declared on a local television program last night that he and his fellow-Nazis might not march in Skokie if they were permitted to march in Chicago. He has said in other public statements that he made the plans for the march in Skokie to dramatize the alleged curbs on his group’s freedom to march in Chicago. The JUF spokesman said the Chicago Nazis tried to get permission to march in Chicago a year ago but were refused.
After months of delay, the Nazi group field a request on April 17 for a permit to march in Skokie, declaring they would wear Nazi-style uniforms with swastika armbands. In the request they specified they wanted to march on June 25. The 30-day waiting period between application and approval ended last week but the village officials have not issued the permit.
LATEST LEGAL DEVELOPMENT
The latest legal development in the complicated case was a ruling yesterday by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals invalidating three ordinances passed by the village last year, after the Nazis announced plans for their march, which would have barred the march.
The federal appeals court said in its ruling that the First Amendment right to free speech protects even those whose views may be unpopular “at a particular time or place.” The court called its decision to allow the Nazis to march one that “distinguishes life in this country from life under the Third Reich.”
Raymond Epstein, chairman of the Public Affairs Committee of the JUF, said today in reference to the appeals court ruling that “we are deeply disappointed that federal judges were unable to see behind the Nazi play. While we share the court’s respect and concern for the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment, we cannot see how the blatantly and openly stated Nazi aims qualify their demonstrations for the protection of the constitution.”
The appeals court declared in its ruling it understood the feelings of Holocaust survivors but that “our task here is to decide whether the First Amendment protects the activity in which appellees wish to engage, not to render moral judgement on their views or tactics.”
WILL SEEK TO APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT
Mayor Albert Smith of Skokie said the appeals court decision “in no way changes our attitudes.” He said “our legal counsel will immediately begin making plans to appeal the case to the United States Supreme Court and we will ask the Supreme Court to stay any proposed march pending a decision on our appeal.”
The JUF spokesman said he had not been able to learn exactly when the Skokie attorneys plan to file their appeal but said he understood it would be done as quickly as the necessary legal papers could be prepared. The JUF spokesman said that the Supreme Court could reject the Skokie Village request for a stay; agree to a stay and a hearing on the appeal; or agree to a hearing but deny a stay.
The Nazis announced plans for the march on May 1, 1977. On May 2, the Village of Skokie passed three ordinances to bar the march. One requires applicants for march permits to post $350,000 in public liability and property damage insurance. A second bans demonstrations by political party members wearing military-style uniforms. The third bans distribution of material that incites hatred against persons because of their race, religion or national origin. The Nazis have been represented in the court actions by the American Civil Liberties Union.
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