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A federal judge in Alabama denied the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) bid to dismiss a case brought by the Trump administration on the grounds it amounted to a vindictive prosecution, finding the civil rights nonprofit did not meet the bar to demonstrate the Justice Department was motivated by animus in bringing the case.
Throughout the order, U.S. District Judge Emily Marks blasted both parties in the case for “heated rhetoric, better suited for cable news, or a podcast.”
But she said the SPLC failed to meet the requirements for the court to grant further discovery on their claims of vindictiveness, let alone dismiss the case in its entirety.
“Federal courts are not the proper forum for airing political grievances. For that reason, the doctrine of vindictive prosecution places a heavy burden on the accused, and decades of precedent counsels against its application here. Two things can be true at once: critics are not constitutionally immunized solely because they speak frequently and prosecutorial decisions may be second guessed—if they evince some evidence of animus,” Marks, a Trump appointee, wrote in the order.
“Missing here is the requisite objective evidence to show that the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama (on its own accord or at the direction of others) prosecuted the SPLC for exercising its First Amendment rights.”
The Trump administration has alleged that the SPLC defrauded donors by working with embeds who were spying on various white supremacist and extremist groups. Their indictment alleges that by paying these informants, the SPLC was funding the very groups it claimed to be fighting.
It’s a claim the SPLC strongly denies — one it says is “not even supported by or contained in the indictment itself.” It also has accused prosecutors of misleading the grand jury to gain an indictment.
The SPLC has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, including taking any actions that would undermine its effort to fight hate groups. It has said its donors were well aware they were spying on extremists.
“While the Southern Poverty Law Center is disappointed with the outcome of the motion, we will continue to vigorously defend ourselves, our staff and our work,” an SPLC spokesperson said Friday.
“SPLC will continue to fight hate, and we will continue to envision and create a safer and more just world. The actions by the DOJ will not shake our resolve to fight for justice and ensure the promise of the Civil Rights movement becomes a reality for all.”
Tensions between the SPLC and some conservatives have been building for years, particularly through the group’s “Hate Map” and other work documenting the ideologies of various groups. That includes some that have been supportive of Trump, such as Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA and the Proud Boys.
The SPLC argues Turning Point belonged on its list because Kirk had “warned his hundreds of thousands of listeners” they were being replaced by foreigners.
Shortly after Kirk’s death, the FBI cut ties with the group, severing a relationship in which the nonprofit passed along intelligence it gained from spying on extremists.
“The Southern Poverty Law Center long ago abandoned civil rights work and turned into a partisan smear machine. Their so-called ‘hate map’ has been used to defame mainstream Americans and even inspired violence. That disgraceful record makes them unfit for any FBI partnership,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote at the time.
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