Background Info The village of Skokie, Illinois had a population of approximately 70,000 persons, of whom approximately 40,500 were Jewish. Included within this population were thousands who survived detention in Nazi concentration camps. On March 20, 1977, Frank Collin, the leader of the National Socialist (″Nazi″) Party of America, informed Skokie′s police chief that the National Socialists intended to march on the village′s sidewalk on May 1. As a result of media attention and a number of phone calls allegedly made by Nazi Party members to residents with ″Jewish names″, this planned demonstration became common knowledge among Skokie′s Jewish community. Collin wrote a letter to Skokie officials stating that the demonstration would consist of 30-50 demonstrators marching in single file in front of the Skokie Village Hall. The demonstrators intended to wear uniforms similar to those traditionally worn by Nazis, including swastika armbands. Collin also said that the demonstrators would not make derogatory public statements and would cooperate with reasonable police instructions. The local court and Supreme Court of Illinois refused to give the Nazis a permit to march. One resident testified that a number of Jewish organizations planned a counter-demonstration for the same day with an expected attendance of 12,000 to 15,000 persons, and that the appearance of Nazi demonstrators could well lead to violence. The mayor of Skokie also testified that the demonstration could lead to uncontrollable violence. The Nazi Party, with the support of the ACLU appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States and were granted the right to hold their march. Although the ACLU prevailed in its free speech arguments, the Nazi group never marched through Skokie, instead agreeing to stage a rally at Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago. Many members of the ACLU resigned in protest, believing that the organization should not have defended the Nazi Party.