Church Leaders March in Selma Over Voting Rights

Nearly 100 faith and voting rights leaders will gather in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, on Saturday to protest a recent Supreme Court ruling. The rally, organized by groups like Black Voters Matter and the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, responds to the April 29th decision that weakened key provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Organizers anticipate roughly 5,000 attendees and 75 buses of activists traveling from multiple Southern states.

The event intends to launch a national movement countering the ruling’s impact on Black Americans’ political power. Participants will begin with a prayer service at Selma’s Historic Tabernacle Baptist Church, then march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge—site of the 1965 “Bloody Sunday” confrontation—and proceed to the Alabama State Capitol.

The Supreme Court case stemmed from a dispute over Louisiana’s congressional map, with the majority ruling that considering race while drawing voting districts was unconstitutional. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, arguing the decision created chaos.

While leaders acknowledge the ruling as a setback, they express hope for renewed mobilization and draw inspiration from past civil rights struggles. The work to protect voting rights continues.