26 December 2016

First Amendment issues raised in Skokie are visiting Whitefish

Skokie Resources
The legal, moral, and social, issues raised by Skokie are described in Philippa Strum’s When the Nazis Came to Skokie, and Aryeh Neier’s Defending My Enemy: American Nazis, the Skokie Case, and the Risks of Freedom. A made for television dramatization, Skokie, was released in 1981 and is available on DVD. It featured an outstanding performance by Danny Kaye. In 2013, a one-hour documentary, Skokie: Invaded But Not Conquered, was released. It’s still available on PBS for free online viewing.

Will 200 armed skinheads from California goose-step down Whitefish’s main street next month in support of white nationalist Richard Spencer? That’s what the Daily Stormer’s Andrew Anglin claims may happen, although the Missoulian reports he may be backing away from that provocation.

I think Anglin’s march is possible, but not likely. He’s based in Ohio, not the ideal location from which to organize 200 skinheads in San Francisco for a 1,200-mile bus ride to Whitefish; if, indeed, there are 200 skinheads in the Bay Area, let alone 200 willing to be organized and able to behave themselves for a journey that long.

Anglin might, however, apply for a permit to hold a parade in Whitefish, hoping it would be denied or encumbered with conditions impossible to meet.

That was among the strategies employed by the city of Skokie, IL, in 1977, when a dozen or two Chicago based Nazis announced they would march through the town, home to many Holocaust survivors, in uniforms emblazoned with swastikas. The Nazis, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, sued.

Thanks to overly permissive open carry laws, men with firearms marching or assembling to make a political statement is, with few exceptions, legal in Montana and much of the nation. Were Whitefish to deny a parade permit for the proposed march of skinheads, Anglin would have solid First Amendment grounds for challenging the denial. I think Whitefish’s leaders are wise enough to try to avoid that trap, but they might be pressured to move in that direction by Spencer’s detractors, some of whom, I’m convinced, want to run him and his parents out of town.

Brandishing guns to make a political point is, of course, reprehensible. When I rebuked Chet Billi, who lost to David Fern in the House District 5 election, for making a campaign speech while dressed in military style clothing with a long gun slung over his shoulder, I said:

Weapons have no place at political events. We employ political campaigns to settle our differences through the exchange of ideas, arguments, and information. A candidate who delivers a speech while carrying a rifle and wearing camouflage violates the social contract, and through his conduct, declares himself bereft of the judgment we require in elective office.

Whitefish needs to be mindful of the lessons of Skokie when reacting to Anglin’s provocations.

Thirty years after Skokie, University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone observed:

The Skokie controversy triggered one of those rare but remarkable moments in American history when citizens throughout the nation vigorously debated the meaning of the United States Constitution. The arguments were often fierce, heartfelt and painful. The American Civil Liberties Union, despite severe criticism and withdrawal of support by many its strongest supporters, represented the First Amendment rights of the Nazi. As a young law professor at the University of Chicago, I had the played a minor role in assisting the ACLU. In the end, the Illinois Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court contributed to the conclusion that Skokie could not enjoin the Nazis from marching.

Northwestern University law professor Martin Redish, interviewed on Chicago Tonight, explained why the Skokie issues captured, and still capture, the public’s attention:

The reason this case is so significant isn’t in its legal precedent so much but because it so strikingly underscores the disconnect between emotive reaction of individuals to the logical implications of the First Amendment, and the important intellectual commitment we have to have to the underlying constitutional values.

Will gun-toting skinheads strut through downtown Whitefish? Probably not. But if they do, I hope they choose the most miserable day of winter for their parade. Jackboots click on cobblestones, but are silent in snowdrifts.