The creation of the commission was the 1957 Civil Rights Act's main—arguably its only tangible—accomplishment. It also stated that no person could "intimidate, threaten, coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose." Any complaint about such interference would be heard in a federal court. However, to persuade enough senators to vote for the bill, Johnson added a clause that permitted defendants to request a jury trial. Civil rights activists scoffed—correctly—that the right to a jury trial rendered the whole clause meaningless; no Southern jury would convict a white registrar for trying to keep a black person from voting.