PEOPLE’S ORGANIZATION FOR PROGRESS WILL PROTEST SUPREME COURT VOTING RIGHTS RULING

PEOPLE’S ORGANIZATION FOR PROGRESS WILL PROTEST SUPREME COURT VOTING RIGHTS RULING

A civil rights group will protest a recent Supreme Court ruling in a major voting rights case next week in front of a federal district court house.

“The Protest Against The Supreme Court Attack On The Voting Rights Act,” will take place on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 11:00am at the Martin Luther King Federal Courthouse, 50 Walnut Street in Newark, New Jersey.

The demonstration is being organized by the People’s Organization For Progress, which advocates for civil and human rights.

“We are having this protest in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Louisiana v. Callais case. That ruling effectively nullifies the 1965 Voting Rights Act,” Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People’s Organization For Progress stated.

“The decision is a major set back to the African American struggle for voting rights and political representation in this country. It will enable states to redraw their congressional districts and eliminate those which have majority black populations,” Hamm said.

“Those majority black districts will be divided up and their parts incorporated into different predominantly white districts where it will be very difficult for black candidates to be elected,” he said.

“Thus states with these new maps will see a significant reduction in the number of Black elected officials. There will be states with no black congressional representation,” Hamm said.

African Americans hold approximately 61 of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, with 59 voting members and two non-voting delegates. There are approximately Black 57 Democrats and 4 Black Republicans.

He said this decision will impact the midterm elections, and will likely hurt Democrats the most.

“Several southern states have already redrawn their maps and others are in the processs of doing so. It could result in the loss of as many as 16 Democratic congressional seats now held by African Americans,” he said.

“On Wednesday we will be demonstrating to demand restoration of the Voting Rights Act. Towards that end we will be calling for the passage of the John Lewis voting rights acts at both the state and federal levels. We will also demand that Congress vote against Trump’s Save Act which is a threat to voting rights,” he said.

“We will also demand reform of the U.S. Supreme Court. Lifetime appointments to the court must end, term limits should be imposed, and stronger ethics laws  must be put in place,” he said.

“In addition, we must break the ultra right super majority’s grip on the court. The number of justices on the court should be expanded to 13 which equals the number of federal circuit courts of appeals,” he said.

“This will give the next president the ability to make appointments to bring ideological balance to the court,” he said.