July 4, 1977 rally is scheduled
On May 18, 1977, Illinois Appellate Court Judge Meyer Goldberg upholds Circuit Court Judge Joseph Wosik’s injunction preventing Collin and the Nazis from marching in Skokie (Skokie v. NSPA).
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) appeals to the Illinois Supreme Court to lift the injunction.
On June 14, the U.S. Supreme Court votes 5-4 to lift the injunction preventing Collin and the Nazis from marching in Skokie (Collin v. Smith). The case is sent back to the Appellate court on June 22.
On June 15, Frank Collin announces plans to rally in Skokie on July 4th to coincide with a national Nazi party convention in Chicago on that same date.
During the June 20 meeting of the Skokie Village Board of Trustees, several Holocaust survivors speak, expressing their fear and anger at the prospect of the neo-Nazi rally.
On June 22, Frank Collin requests permission to hold an "assembly" on the sidewalk in front of the Skokie Village Hall on July 4.
Excerpt:
"The public assembly will consist of more than 30, but less than 50 demonstrators marching single file, back and forth...carry[ing] a party banner containing a swastika emblem, plus placards...[that] will carry statements such as "White Free Speech, "Free Speech for the White Man"..."
Collin also asks that the insurance requirement be waived.
Village Manager John Matzer receives Collin's request on June 23 and responds stating that the application violates the Village ordinance, "An Ordinance Prohibiting Demonstrations by Members of Political Parties Wearing Military-Style Uniforms," and thus the "application cannot be considered."
During the June 27 Village Board of Trustees meeting, Mayor Smith announces that “based on all the information that we have on hand at this particular time, we are convinced that the Nazis will not march in Skokie on July 4th."
Sol Goldstein, a Skokie resident and Holocaust survivor, and the Anti Defamation League (ADL) file a class-action suit in the Cook County Circuit Court to permanently ban Nazis from marching in Skokie, “while wearing or displaying Nazi insignia” (Goldstein v. Collin).
Excerpt:
"This action is brought on behalf of Jewish residents of Skokie, Illinois, who are survivors of the campaign of racial extermination…carried on by Adolf Hitler and the…Nazis during World War II."