During a panel discussion at the national NAACP convention in Cincinnati Wednesday, Retired Appeals Court Judge Nathaniel Jones criticized Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and John Roberts for their jurisprudence and Congress for its failure to correct the removal of section five from the voting rights act.
Attorney General Eric Holder had argued the restrictions, saying it was necessary to keep them from returning to discriminatory practices. But the majority of the Supreme Court disagreed in 2013.
According to Jones, "We're getting it from the judicial front and we're getting it from the political front and unless we are mindful and careful all of these gains that we've talked about, having won in 1954 will be obliterated."
The retired federal appeals court judge likened the civil rights threat to a World War II pincer movement where tanks came at troops from both sides.
Jones is receiving the NAACP's highest award, the Spingarn Medal.
