Allen Lee Vincent, head of the National Socialist White Workers Party, holds a Nazi book called “White Power” in front of a large crowd during a noontime rally in Santa Rosa, California on March 24, 1979. The American-style Nazi group, estimated at 13, exchanged obscenities with the crowd. The American Nazi Party is one of several hundred white supremacist groups in the United States whose words and actions have tested the limits of the First Amendment. (AP Photo/Chinn, with permission from The Associated Press)
The American Nazi Party is one of several hundred white supremacist groups in the United States whose words and actions have tested the limits of the First Amendment.
American Nazi Party founded in 1959
George Lincoln Rockwell founded the party in 1959 with the mission of killing all Jews, sending blacks to Africa, and furthering other racial policies.
The party ventured into politics in 1964, when Rockwell ran for president. Rockwell was assassinated in 1967 by John Patler, a former member of Rockwell’s group, but the party’s legacy continued, leading to the formation of several offshoots.
Planned Nazi march leads to First Amendment court case
In 1977 one such group, the National Socialist Party of America, planned a march through Skokie, Illinois, a Chicago suburb with a large Jewish population, including Holocaust survivors.
The town attempted to prevent the march, but in Collin v. Smith (7th Cir. 1978), the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a Skokie ordinance making it a crime to disseminate material that might incite racial or religious violence or hatred.
Skokie officials wanted to apply this law to the party’s display of swastikas, which would allow authorities to deny a permit for the march. The appeals court noted that although the swastika might be an offensive symbol, its display during a peaceful march could not be considered a crime. The court wrote in its opinion that it is “the fact that our constitutional system protects minorities unpopular at a particular time or place from government harassment and intimidation, that distinguishes life in this country from life under the Third Reich.” As a result of the court’s decision, Skokie officials could not stop the march (which the party ultimately held in Chicago).
Ku Klux Klan speech has led to First Amendment doctrine
Almost ten years earlier, in Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the Supreme Court had ruled that attempts to restrict the hateful speech of Ku Klux Klan leader Clarence Brandenburg on the basis of content and subject matter violated the First Amendment.
In Brandenburg, the speech at issue was vehemently racist and anti-Semitic. Nonetheless, the Court held that speech cannot be banned solely because of its content; it could only be limited in cases where it presented the threat of imminent lawless action. Thus, when words turn to violence or intimidation, First Amendment protection becomes more limited. Take, for example, the issue of cross burning in Virginia v. Black (2003).
After a lengthy discussion of the history of the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacy, the Supreme Court’s opinion held that it is constitutional for a state to criminalize cross burning when such burning is done with the intent to intimidate, but not when it is used to make a political statement or as part of a group assembly.
These cases illustrate that the First Amendment applies to all groups so long as their intent is not to intimidate or incite violence. This is sometimes a fine line. As a result of First Amendment protections, people are often forced to tolerate speech they find offensive.
This article was originally pubished in 2009. Jason Abel is a Partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP and leads the Campaign Finance and Political Law Practice and advises clients on a range of government affairs issues, including legislative strategy and process. Jason is a lecturer in law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where he teaches election law, and a professorial lecturer in law at George Washington University Law School, where he teaches campaign finance law and Congressional procedure.
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National Socialist Movement | Southern Poverty Law Center
National Socialist Movement The group is notable for its violent antisemitic rhetoric, its racist views and its policy allowing members of other racist groups to join NSM while remaining members of other groups. NSM became the largest membership-based neo-Nazi group in this country through the 2000s and into the following decade. The group’s brand and tactics of demonstrating in quasi-Nazi uniforms stalled, and its membership tally subsequently dipped. Since 2015, the group has sought to reinvigorate itself by forming coalitions with other white power groups. NSM arrived at the center of the deadly riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017 via that strategy, which devastated the group. NSM’s membership continues to dwindle. It, as well as its former leader, Jeff Schoep, were defendants in the Sines v. Kessler civil trial, which targeted those who planned and promoted the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. On Nov. 23, 2021, a federal court in Virginia found both Schoep and NSM, along a slew of other defendants, guilty on charges of civil conspiracy. In Their Own Words “I’m a [expletive] Nazi and I’m [expletive] proud of it.” – Burt Colucci, in footage of his arrest in Arizona, April 19, 2021 “You know what this bullshit translates to? White people got nice shit, white people worked for it, and Black people want it. … They have no interest in equality. They want to fucking rule us.” – NSM leader Burt Colucci on NSM’s podcast, June 2, 2020 “Immigration into the White Homeland shall be limited to members of the White European Race, defined as White Caucasians who are the descendants of indigenous Europeans. . . . Groups who are not Europeans are separate ethnicities and thus shall have their own homelands, separate from ours.” – “25 Point Plan,” NSM website, updated April 2020 “The guiding principle of The National Socialist Movement Corporation is fighting for civil rights and self-determination of Whites in America. The Fourteen Words, ‘We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White children,’ best exemplifies the mission of our movement.” – “25 Point Plan,” NSM website, updated April 2020 “We were sending people into the military all the time. … By the time I left, it was about 50 percent.” – Jeff Schoep, during a panel at the New America Foundation after he claimed to have left the white power movement, Nov. 4, 2019 “We simply cannot be concerned and burdened by the yolk [sic] of compassion for the so-called marginalized groups of today, lest we doom our children to be in need of asylum tomorrow. We can see quite clearly by examples in Europe and south Africa how compassion comes in the form of no go zones and machete blades.” – Polly Esther, NSM Magazine, fall/winter 2017 “When … you take a German Shepherd and mix him with a Golden Retriever you have a worthless animal that nobody wants and that isn’t worth anything if you’re trying to breed him or sell him. … These degenerates that allow their children to race mix and this sort of thing, they’re destroying the bloodlines of both races.” – NSM leader Jeff Schoep, July 25, 2007, interview “All non-White immigration must be prevented. We demand that all non-Whites currently residing in America be required to leave the nation forthwith and return to their land of origin: peacefully or by force.” – “25 Points of…
Inside the National Socialist Movement
Inside the National Socialist Movement Abstract The investigation penetrated the NSM’s veil of secrecy to create the first statistical portrait of an American neo-Nazi group that encompasses its geographic distribution, tactics, and activities. The group chosen for the investigation, the Detroit-headquartered National Socialist Movement, is a long-standing neo-Nazi group created by remnants of the American Nazi Party in 1974. As part of an effort to expand its membership, NSM purchased the New Saxon Web site, a White supremacist social networking Web site. New Saxon has become popular among White supremacists frustrated by the restriction on hate speech at most mainstream social networking sites. This purchase by NSM increased its visibility in the movement as well as its access to a recruiting pool. NSM has sought to improve its “public image” by attempting to become participants in local community projects such as tornado disaster relief, donations to AMBER Alert, and highway cleanups. Although the NSM has chapters and members in every region of the United States, most of its members live in the Midwest, specifically in the States of Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota; Missouri and Illinois have also seen growth in 2008. Although NSM membership has grown into the hundreds, leadership remains in the hands of several dozen dedicated members. The leadership maintains the life and impact of the NSM through organizing events, meetings, recruiting, publishing newsletters, and maintaining dedicated Web sites. Two tables list NSM events by month for 2006 and 2007.
National Socialist Movement (United States) – Wikipedia
National Socialist Movement (United States) National Socialist Movement LeaderBurt ColucciFounded1974Preceded byAmerican Nazi PartyNewspaperNSM Magazine[1]Youth wingViking Youth Corp[2]Ideology Neo-Nazism[3] Neo-fascism[4] White nationalism White separatism White supremacy[5][6][7] Anti-LGBT sentiment Antisemitism Anti-Zionism Anti-globalism[8] Anti-communism Anti-capitalism Right-wing populism American nationalism Nativism Political positionFar-right[9]International affiliationWorld Union of National Socialists[10]Colors Black White Red BlueEthnic groupWhite AmericansParty flagWebsitewww.nsm88.orgPolitics of United StatesPolitical partiesElections Alternate flag of the National Socialist Movement, featuring the Odal rune The National Socialist Movement (NSM) is a far-right, Neo-Nazi, white supremacist organization based in the United States.[5][11] It is a part of the Nationalist Front.[12] The party claimed to be the “largest and most active” National Socialist organization in the United States. It is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.[13][14] In January 2019, the leadership of the group was turned over to James Hart Stern, a Black civil rights activist, who announced his intention to undermine the group and “eradicate” it.[15][16][17] In March 2019, in a press release the group’s leader, Jeff Schoep, declared that Stern “does not speak for the National Socialist Movement and he holds no legal standing with the NSM”. In addition to speaking out against Stern, he also announced that he was leaving the NSM and giving his position to Burt Colucci.[18][19] Since then, Jeff Schoep has renounced his racist past and he has also renounced his involvement in all racist groups.[20] In April 2021, Colucci was arrested for aggravated assault.[21] History[edit] The National Socialist Movement was founded in 1974 in St. Paul, Minnesota, as the “National Socialist American Workers Freedom Movement” by Robert Brannen and Cliff Herrington, former members of the American Nazi Party before its decline. In 1994, Jeff Schoep became the group’s chairman,[22] a position he held until January 2019.[17] It was revealed in 2004 that Clifford Herrington, co-chairman of the NSM, was the husband of Andrea Herrington,[23][24] founder and “high-priestess” of the theistic Satanist organization and website Joy of Satan Ministries,[23][24] leading to a major debate and conflict both within the NSM itself and Joy of Satan Ministries, and to the Herringtons’ eventual departure from the NSM.[23][24][25] The National Socialist Movement was responsible for leading the demonstration which sparked the 2005 Toledo riot.[26] In April 2006, they held a rally on the State Capitol steps in Lansing, Michigan, which was met by a larger counter-rally and ended in scuffles.[27] NSM rally on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol building, Washington, D.C., 2008 In January 2009, the National Socialist Movement sponsored a half-mile section of U.S. Highway 160 outside of Springfield, Missouri, as part of the Adopt-A-Highway Trash Cleanup program.[28] The highway was later renamed the “Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Memorial Highway” by the state legislature.[29] In 2009, the National Socialist Movement had 61 chapters in 35 states, making it the largest neo-Nazi group in the United States according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.[30] As of 2015, the National Socialist Movement claimed direct organized presences in seven countries around the world, and other affiliations beyond that.[31][unreliable source?] On April 17, 2010, 70 members of the National Socialist Movement demonstrated in front of the Los Angeles City Hall, drawing a counter protest of hundreds of anti-fascist demonstrators.[6] In May 2011, the National Socialist Movement was described by The New York Times as being “the largest supremacist group, with about 400 members in 32 states, though much of its prominence followed the decay of Aryan Nation and other neo-Nazi groups”.[32] On May 1, 2011, Jeff Hall, a leader of the California branch of the National Socialist Movement, was killed by his 10-year-old emotionally troubled son, who claimed he was tired of Hall beating him and his stepmother.[33] Hall had run in 2010 for a seat on the board of directors of a Riverside County water board, a race in which he earned approximately 30% of the vote.[34] The National Socialist Movement held a rally on September 3, 2011, in West Allis, Wisconsin, to protest incidents at the Wisconsin State Fair on August 5, 2011, when a large crowd of young African-Americans allegedly targeted and beat white people as…
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) – Working towards a …
%%sitename%% Who we are The Democratic Socialists of America is the largest socialist organization in the United States, with over 92,000 members and chapters in all 50 states. We believe that working people should run both the economy and society democratically to meet human needs, not to make profits for a few. What we do We are a political and activist organization, not a party; through campus and community-based chapters, DSA members use a variety of tactics, from legislative to direct action, to fight for reforms that empower working people. Get Involved The Democratic Socialists of America is the largest socialist organization in the United States because we’re a member-driven mass organization. We believe that working people should run both the economy and civil society, and we show our commitment to this principle by being an organization of, by, and for the working class. Our Campaign Priorities DSA and YDSA chapters organize around various issues, striving to run strategic campaigns based on local conditions. Nationally, we we also provide resources and support for work done as part of our major priorities as democratically voted upon: Electoral Strategy Bernie Sanders launched a political revolution and DSA continues to build it, training our chapters to effectively support democratic socialist candidates running for local and state office while lifting up our key issues. We’re also grappling with how to build independent political power to hold elected officials accountable to their constituents rather than the donor class. Learn More Strong Labor Movement Capitalism pits us against each other and workplaces are fundamentally authoritarian unless workers can self-organize and build collective power. This is why people build unions, and why employers undermine them. It is also why the capitalists as a class constantly promote narratives about unions that frame them as unnecessary, undemocratic, or ineffective. We know better, and we’re building worker power in every region of the country. Learn More Green New Deal The climate crisis is an emergency. The world’s top scientists are saying we have little time to get off fossil fuels. Meanwhile, inequality is already out of control — and rising. We fight for a Green New Deal because it’s the only plan that meets the scale of the crisis, one that puts people and planet over profit to build a more just and sustainable economy. We’re organizing in our workplaces, communities and schools to build the working class movement it will take to win. Learn More Statements Updates from the National Political Committee July 19, 2022 Statement of Solidarity with Organizers of Akron The Democratic Socialists of America stands in solidarity with the Organizers of Akron, including Akron DSA, and endorses their 12 Points of Action in response to the tragic murder of 25-year-old Jayland Walker at the hands of Akron’s police force on June 27. Jayland was murdered during a traffic stop when eight killer cops fired… June 24, 2022 Fight for Democracy, Fight to Protect Abortion The DSA National Political Committee condemns today’s Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which eviscerates the right to privacy and bodily autonomy protected by Roe v. Wade for nearly fifty years, a right the vast majority of Americans support and agree should be protected by the Constitution. The far right wing… June 1, 2022 New NPC Member Announcement We’re excited to welcome three new members to the National Political Committee: Tefa Galvis, Marvin Gonzalez, and Kevin Richardson. Tefa, a member of NYC-DSA, is a…
National Socialist Movement – ADL
National Socialist Movement | ADL National Socialist Movement logo Key Points: The National Socialist Movement is a neo-Nazi group. Burt Colucci has led the NSM since March 2019. In decline for several years, the NSM’s core membership has fallen to one or two dozen. The NSM is known for holding public rallies and protests dressed in Nazi-styled uniforms. Overview: The National Socialist Movement (NSM) is a neo-Nazi group with membership scattered around the country. Once the largest and most prominent neo-Nazi group in the United States, the NSM has been in decline for several years and its core membership has fallen to one or two dozen. The NSM is currently led by longtime member Burt Colucci, of Kissimmee, Florida. Colucci took power in March 2019 when longtime leader Jeff Schoep stepped down after James Hart Stern, a black civil rights activist who had previously taken over and dissolved a KKK organization, claimed to take over the NSM with the goal of undermining it. Stern and Colucci battled over ownership of the group until Stern’s death in October 2019. Despite Stern’s attempt to dissolve the NSM, Colucci continued to operate the group’s website and reverted to NSM’s original logo, which includes a swastika. From November 2016 through March 2019, Schoep, in an effort to make the group appear more mainstream, used a logo featuring the more innocuous-looking Othala Rune. The NSM’s ongoing struggle over leadership has clearly hurt the group. In 2019, the NSM neglected to hold their annual April rally celebrating Hitler’s birthday. Despite being delayed until June, the 2020 version of that event was not well attended. In fact, under Colucci’s leadership the group has failed to hold an event with more than 10-15 participants. The last significant rally organized by the NSM was the “White Lives Matter” rally in November 2017. The event in Shelbyville, Tennessee, attracted 200 white supremacists, including several dozen NSM members, as well as members of groups associated with their now-defunct umbrella organization, the Nationalist Front. The Nationalist Front, an NSM led umbrella organization formed to unite various facets of the white supremacist movement, fell apart shortly after the Shelbyville rally. The Nationalist Front was originally called the Aryan Nationalist Alliance which formed in April 2016 during the NSM’s annual national meeting in Georgia. It included Klan groups, racist skinheads, and neo-Nazis and held small, mostly localized events that rarely drew more than 25 individuals. In November 2016, the Aryan Nationalist Alliance changed its name to Nationalist Front. At the same time, the now-defunct Traditionalist Worker Party became part of the alliance. The League of the South and Vanguard America joined the alliance after the NSM’s April 2017 rally in Pikeville, Kentucky. Origins: Like most neo-Nazi groups that are active in the United States today, the NSM traces its roots back to the 1960s and George Lincoln Rockwell’s American Nazi Party (ANP), the first well-established neo-Nazi organization in America. Following Rockwell’s 1967 murder, a variety of neo-Nazi factions emerged from the disorganized and fractious remnants of the ANP. One such group was a small neo-Nazi group started in 1974 by two former Rockwell storm troopers, Robert Brannen and Cliff Herrington. Operating under the dubious name, the National Socialist American Workers Freedom Movement, the group was tiny and its influence did not extend much beyond its headquarters in South Saint Paul, Minnesota. Soon after, Brannen suffered multiple strokes, and Herrington succeeded him in 1983. Herrington (born in 1947) ran the group for more than a decade, by which point it had expanded to only a handful of chapters outside of Minnesota. In 1994, Herrington…
American Nazi Party and Related Groups | The First …
American Nazi Party and Related Groups Allen Lee Vincent, head of the National Socialist White Workers Party, holds a Nazi book called “White Power” in front of a large crowd during a noontime rally in Santa Rosa, California on March 24, 1979. The American-style Nazi group, estimated at 13, exchanged obscenities with the crowd. The American Nazi Party is one of several hundred white supremacist groups in the United States whose words and actions have tested the limits of the First Amendment. (AP Photo/Chinn, with permission from The Associated Press) The American Nazi Party is one of several hundred white supremacist groups in the United States whose words and actions have tested the limits of the First Amendment. American Nazi Party founded in 1959 George Lincoln Rockwell founded the party in 1959 with the mission of killing all Jews, sending blacks to Africa, and furthering other racial policies. The party ventured into politics in 1964, when Rockwell ran for president. Rockwell was assassinated in 1967 by John Patler, a former member of Rockwell’s group, but the party’s legacy continued, leading to the formation of several offshoots. Planned Nazi march leads to First Amendment court case In 1977 one such group, the National Socialist Party of America, planned a march through Skokie, Illinois, a Chicago suburb with a large Jewish population, including Holocaust survivors. The town attempted to prevent the march, but in Collin v. Smith (7th Cir. 1978), the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a Skokie ordinance making it a crime to disseminate material that might incite racial or religious violence or hatred. Skokie officials wanted to apply this law to the party’s display of swastikas, which would allow authorities to deny a permit for the march. The appeals court noted that although the swastika might be an offensive symbol, its display during a peaceful march could not be considered a crime. The court wrote in its opinion that it is “the fact that our constitutional system protects minorities unpopular at a particular time or place from government harassment and intimidation, that distinguishes life in this country from life under the Third Reich.” As a result of the court’s decision, Skokie officials could not stop the march (which the party ultimately held in Chicago). Ku Klux Klan speech has led to First Amendment doctrine Almost ten years earlier, in Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the Supreme Court had ruled that attempts to restrict the hateful speech of Ku Klux Klan leader Clarence Brandenburg on the basis of content and subject matter violated the First Amendment. In Brandenburg, the speech at issue was vehemently racist and anti-Semitic. Nonetheless, the Court held that speech cannot be banned solely because of its content; it could only be limited in cases where it presented the threat of imminent lawless action. Thus, when words turn to violence or intimidation, First Amendment protection becomes more limited. Take, for example, the issue of cross burning in Virginia v. Black (2003). After a lengthy discussion of the history of the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacy, the Supreme Court’s opinion held that it is constitutional for a state to criminalize cross burning when such burning is done with the intent to intimidate, but not when it is used to make a political statement or as part of a group assembly. These cases illustrate that the First Amendment applies to all groups so long as their intent is not to intimidate or incite violence. This is sometimes a fine line….
Village of Skokie v. National Socialist Party of America (Ill)
Village of Skokie v. National Socialist Party of America (Ill) Frank Collin, pictured above, was the leader of the National Socialist Party of America when it became the center of one of the first Supreme Court decisions about the constitutionality of hate speech, Village of Skokie v. Nationalist Socialist Party of America. The National Socialist Party, which wore swastika armbands and advocated white power, had wanted to conduct a demonstration in Marquette Park in Chicago, but were blocked by Chicago authorities. They then announced they would march in Skokie, a predominantly Jewish suburb in Chicago that was home to many Holocaust survivors. A Cook County court issued an injunction that was challenged and eventually overturned on First Amendment grounds. Here, Collin announces plans to call off its planned march in Skokie, winning permission to march in Chicago instead. (AP Photo/Fred Jewell, used with permission from The Associated Press) In Village of Skokie v. National Socialist Party of America, 373 N. E. 2d 21 (Ill. 1978), the Illinois Supreme Court held that the display of swastikas did not constitute fighting words and thus the enjoining of that speech was an unconstitutional prior restraint. The Illinois decision would set the foundation for later hate speech cases. Case had complicated path before coming back to the state court The case had a complicated journey: from the Cook County Circuit Court, which enjoined members of the National Socialist Party of America from conducting demonstrations in the village of Skokie, Illinois; to the Illinois Appellate Court, which denied the application for stay pending appeal; and then to the Illinois Supreme Court, which denied the petition for stay. The application for stay was treated as a petition for certiorari and the U.S. Supreme Court, in Nationalist Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie (1977) reversed and remanded. On remand, the case wound itself back to the Appellate Court, First District, and then back to the Illinois Supreme Court in the case described here. Skokie was one of the first hate speech decisions Skokie was one of the first decisions in what would become an ongoing debate over the constitutionality of limiting hate speech. The issue arose when the National Socialist Party of America (NSPA) requested permission to hold a demonstration in the community of Skokie. The NSPA was a group devoted to inciting racial and religious hatred, primarily against people of the Jewish faith and non-Caucasians. Skokie was home to some 70,000 people, of whom 40,500 were Jews, and of those 5,000–7,000 were survivors of Nazi concentration camps. Because of the high population of Jews, village leaders sought to enjoin the demonstration, but the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the NSPA had a First Amendment right to demonstrate in Skokie. Court said feelings of the listener are not valid reasons for prohibiting speech The court first established that “public expression of ideas may not be prohibited merely because the ideas are themselves offensive to some of their hearers.” In other words, the listener’s feelings could not be considered valid reasons for prohibiting speech. However, the court also noted that governments can restrict certain categories of speech — obscenity, defamation, fighting words — because of their content. In these cases, the government still maintained “the heavy burden of justifying the imposition of a prior restraint upon the defendants’ right of freedom of speech.” To decide this particular case, the court looked at the category of fighting words to see if the restraint on speech could be considered constitutional. Court found that the swastika did not constitute fighting words The fighting words category, which originated in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942), is defined as those words that do nothing more than inflict injury or incite immediate violence. In Skokie, however, the court decided not to use the definition from Chaplinsky; rather, it used the…
National Socialism in the United States, 1922–1933 – jstor
National Socialism in the United States, 1922–1933 on JSTOR journal article The Years of Waiting: National Socialism in the United States, 1922–1933 Sander A. Diamond American Jewish Historical Quarterly Vol. 59, No. 3, AMERICA AND NAZI GERMANY (MARCH, 1970), pp. 256-271 (16 pages) Published By: The Johns Hopkins University Press https://www.jstor.org/stable/23877858 Read and download Log in through your school or library Read Online (Free) relies on page scans, which are not currently available to screen readers. To access this article, please contact JSTOR User Support. We’ll provide a PDF copy for your screen reader. With a personal account, you can read up to 100 articles each month for free. Get Started Already have an account? Log in Monthly Plan Access everything in the JPASS collection Read the full-text of every article Download up to 10 article PDFs to save and keep $19.50/month Yearly Plan Access everything in the JPASS collection Read the full-text of every article Download up to 120 article PDFs to save and keep $199/year Purchase a PDF Purchase this article for $24.00 USD. Purchase this issue for $44.00 USD. Go to Table of Contents. How does it work? Select a purchase option. Check out using a credit card or bank account with PayPal. Read your article online and download the PDF from your email or your account. Preview Preview Publisher Information One of the largest publishers in the United States, the Johns Hopkins University Press combines traditional books and journals publishing units with cutting-edge service divisions that sustain diversity and independence among nonprofit, scholarly publishers, societies, and associations. Journals The Press is home to the largest journal publication program of any U.S.-based university press. The Journals Division publishes 85 journals in the arts and humanities, technology and medicine, higher education, history, political science, and library science. The division also manages membership services for more than 50 scholarly and professional associations and societies. Books With critically acclaimed titles in history, science, higher education, consumer health, humanities, classics, and public health, the Books Division publishes 150 new books each year and maintains a backlist in excess of 3,000 titles. With warehouses on three continents, worldwide sales representation, and a robust digital publishing program, the Books Division connects Hopkins authors to scholars, experts, and educational and research institutions around the world. Project MUSE® Project MUSE is a leading provider of digital humanities and social sciences content, providing access to journal and book content from nearly 300 publishers. MUSE delivers outstanding results to the scholarly community by maximizing revenues for publishers, providing value to libraries, and enabling access for scholars worldwide. Hopkins Fulfillment Services (HFS) HFS provides print and digital distribution for a distinguished list of university presses and nonprofit institutions. HFS clients enjoy state-of-the-art warehousing, real-time access to critical business data, accounts receivable management and collection, and unparalleled customer service. Rights & Usage This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions American Jewish Historical Quarterly © 1970 American Jewish Historical Society Request Permissions
NATIONAL SOCIALIST PARTY OF AMERICA et al. v …
NATIONAL SOCIALIST PARTY OF AMERICA et al. v. VILLAGE OF SKOKIE. 432 U.S. 43 97 S.Ct. 2205 53 L.Ed.2d 96 NATIONAL SOCIALIST PARTY OF AMERICA et al.v.VILLAGE OF SKOKIE. No. 76-1786. Decided June 14, 1977. PER CURIAM. 1On April 29, 1977, the Circuit Court of Cook County entered an injunction against petitioners. The injunction prohibited them from performing any of the following actions within the village of Skokie, Ill.: “(m)arching, walking or parading in the uniform of the National Socialist Party of America; (m)arching, walking or parading or otherwise displaying the swastika on or off their person; (d)istributing pamphlets or displaying any materials which incite or promote hatred against persons of Jewish faith or ancestry or hatred against persons of any faith or ancestry, race or religion.” The Illinois Appellate Court denied an application for stay pending appeal. Applicants then filed a petition for a stay in the Illinois Supreme Court, together with a request for a direct expedited appeal to that court. The Illinois Supreme Court denied both the stay and leave for an expedited appeal. Applicants then filed an application for a stay with Mr. Justice Stevens, as Circuit Justice, who referred the matter to the Court. 2(1, 2) Treating the application as a petition for certiorari from the order of the Illinois Supreme Court, we grant certiorari and reverse the Illinois Supreme Court’s denial of a stay. That order is a final judgment for purposes of our jurisdiction, since it involved a right “separable from, and collateral to” the merits, Cohen v. Beneficial Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 546, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 1225, 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949). See Abney v. United States, 431 U.S. 651, 97 S.Ct. 2034, 52 L.Ed.2d 651 (1977); cf. Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469, 476-487, 95 S.Ct. 1029, 1036-1042, 43 L.Ed.2d 328 (1975). It finally determined the merits of petitioners’ claim that the outstanding injunction will deprive them of rights protected by the First Amendment during the period of appellate review which, in the normal course, may take a year or more to complete. If a State seeks to impose a restraint of this kind, it must provide strict procedural safeguards, Freedman v. Maryland, 380 U.S. 51, 85 S.Ct. 734, 13 L.Ed.2d 649 (1965), including immediate appellate review, see Nebraska Press Assn. v. Stuart, 423 U.S. 1319, 1327, 96 S.Ct. 237, 251, 46 L.Ed.2d 199, 237 (1975) (Blackmun, J., in chambers). Absent such review, the State must instead allow a stay. The order of the Illinois Supreme Court constituted a denial of that right. 3Reversed and remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion. 5Mr. Justice WHITE would deny the stay. 6Mr. Justice REHNQUIST, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and Mr. Justice STEWART join, dissenting. 7The Court treats an application filed here to stay a judgment of the Circuit Court of Cook County as a petition for certiorari to review the refusal of the Supreme Court of Illinois to stay the injunction. It summarily reverses this refusal of a stay. I simply do not see how the refusal of the Supreme Court of Illinois to stay an injunction granted by an inferior court within the state system can be described as a “(f)inal judgmen(t) or decre(e) rendered by the highest court of a State in which a decision could be had”, which is the limitation that Congress has imposed on our jurisdiction to review state-court judgments under 28 U.S.C. § 1257. Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469, 476-487, 95 S.Ct. 1029, 1036-1042, 43 L.Ed.2d 328 (1975), relied upon by the Court which surely took as liberal a view of this jurisdictional grant as can reasonably be taken, does not support the result reached by the Court here. In Cox there had been a final decision on the federal claim by the Supreme Court of Georgia, which was the highest court of that State in which such a decision could be had. Here all the Supreme Court of Illinois has done is, in the exercise of the discretion possessed by every appellate court, to deny a stay of a…