Defending My Enemy: A Conversation With Aryeh Neier

Aryeh Neier was the national director of the ACLU in 1977 when American Nazis demanded the right to march through Skokie, Illinois—a town with a large population of Holocaust survivors. Neier was himself a Holocaust survivor and found the Nazis’ ideology repugnant, but the ACLU nonetheless took on the group’s case and argued, successfully, that the First Amendment required that they be permitted to march. The intensely controversial case cost the ACLU thousands of members but became emblematic of the organization’s uncompromising dedication to free speech.

Neier will reflect on the Skokie case and its contemporary significance in conversation with Jameel Jaffer, inaugural director of the Knight Institute and former director of the ACLU’s center for democracy. Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director, will offer introductory remarks.

The evening’s discussion will be informed by the newly revised and updated edition of Neier’s book Defending My Enemy: Skokie and The Legacy of Free Speech in America.

Co-sponsored by the ACLU and Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

Reception to follow event. 

Copies of Neier’s book will be available for purchase.

Registration is required to attend in-person or to watch the livestream.