On March 2, 1961, more than 200 African American college and high school students marched six blocks from Zion Baptist Church to the South Carolina State House in an NAACP-organized protest against racial segregation. Led by Benedict College theology student David Carter, they walked the capitol grounds, carried signs, and, after being ordered to disperse, sang patriotic and religious songs. Although the protest was orderly, 190 people were arrested for disturbing the peace. Defended by NAACP lawyers, including local attorneys Matthew Perry and Lincoln C. Jenkins Jr., 187 students appealed their convictions to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1963, the Court ruled 8-1 that the arrests violated the 1st and 14th Amendments. The decision, Edwards v. South Carolina, named for lead plaintiff James Edwards Jr., became a landmark ruling cited to defend activists across the U.S. and declared that states may not "make criminal the peaceful expression of unpopular views."