MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Southern Poverty Law Center has moved to dismiss a federal indictment against the organization, arguing that the prosecution is politically motivated retaliation driven by President Donald Trump and top administration officials in response to the group’s advocacy, public criticism of the administration and longstanding work tracking extremist organizations.
In a 47-page memorandum filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, SPLC attorneys argued the criminal case represents “the very definition of a vindictive prosecution” and asked the court to dismiss the indictment with prejudice or order further discovery and an evidentiary hearing.
“The Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the greatest political scams in American History, has been charged with FRAUD,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on April 24, according to the filing.
The SPLC filing contends the indictment followed “a top-down, retributive campaign” in which Trump directed the Justice Department to target organizations and individuals he viewed as political enemies.
The motion further alleges that the administration falsely accused the SPLC of being “anti-Christian,” aiding the Biden administration’s “weaponization” of the Department of Justice, participating in political violence and helping “rig” the 2020 presidential election.
The federal indictment, unsealed April 21, accuses the SPLC of improperly funding informants tied to white supremacist and extremist groups including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations and National Alliance.
Prosecutors alleged the organization concealed the true nature of payments and fraudulently solicited donations while claiming it was dismantling extremist organizations.
At the center of the case is the SPLC’s decades-old informant program, which the organization says was modeled on traditional law enforcement intelligence-gathering methods.
According to the filing, the SPLC began using paid informants after its Montgomery headquarters was firebombed by members of the Ku Klux Klan in 1983.
The organization stated in its motion that it routinely shared information obtained through informants with law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.
Founded in 1971 by civil rights attorneys Morris Dees and Joseph Levin, Jr., the SPLC became nationally known for civil litigation against white supremacist organizations and extremist groups.
The organization later expanded its work into voting rights, immigrant justice, LGBTQ advocacy, criminal legal reform and educational programming.
Over the past two decades, the SPLC’s “Hate Map” and annual “Year in Hate and Extremism” reports have made the organization both influential and controversial.
Supporters argue the reports provide critical tracking of extremist movements, while critics — especially conservatives and right-wing organizations — have accused the SPLC of unfairly labeling mainstream conservative and religious groups as extremist.
The dispute intensified after a 2023 FBI Richmond field office memorandum discussing “radical-traditionalist Catholic” extremism cited SPLC materials.
The memo sparked outrage among conservative lawmakers and media figures, who accused the FBI of targeting Christians and relying on politically biased sources.
According to the SPLC motion, Republican lawmakers including Sen. Chuck Grassley and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan pressured the FBI to sever ties with the organization after the Richmond memo became public.
The filing argues that after Trump returned to office in January 2025, the administration escalated those efforts through executive actions and DOJ directives focused on alleged “weaponization” of federal law enforcement under the Biden administration.
Trump signed an executive order titled “Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government,” directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to review DOJ and FBI activities over the prior four years.
Bondi subsequently established a DOJ “Weaponization Working Group” tasked in part with reviewing the Richmond FBI memo and its use of SPLC materials.
The filing also points to a separate “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias,” established under the Trump administration, which issued a lengthy report criticizing the SPLC and its influence on federal agencies.
The SPLC argues the administration’s hostility intensified after the organization continued publicly criticizing Trump administration policies throughout 2025 and early 2026, including immigration enforcement actions, voting restrictions, attacks on DEI programs and federal crackdowns on protesters.
The motion also links the indictment to political fallout following the September 2025 killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
After the SPLC’s 2024 “Year in Hate and Extremism” report included criticism of Turning Point USA, conservative officials blamed the organization for contributing to a climate of political violence after Kirk’s death.
Rep. Chip Roy wrote that the SPLC had placed “targets” on organizations and individuals through its Hate Map.
Trump later declared at Kirk’s memorial service that the Justice Department was investigating “networks of radical left maniacs who fund, organize, fuel and perpetrate political violence.”
Shortly afterward, Trump issued an executive order designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization and directing federal agencies to investigate groups and individuals who allegedly funded or supported political violence.
The SPLC filing argues those actions were part of a coordinated effort to target nonprofit organizations engaged in speech critical of the administration.
At an October 2025 White House roundtable, Trump stated: “You should see what we have on these people. These are bad people. These are people that want to destroy our country.”
He added, “We’re going to be very threatening to them. Far more threatening to them than they ever were with us. And that includes the people that fund them.”
The SPLC motion also highlights comments by FBI Director Kash Patel, who announced in October 2025 that the FBI would terminate collaboration with the SPLC. Patel called the organization “a partisan smear machine” and claimed it had “inspired violence.”
Following the indictment, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Patel held a televised press conference accusing the SPLC of paying sources “to stoke racial hatred” and “manufactur[ing] the extremism it purports to oppose.”
Blanche later stated on Fox News that there was “no information” showing the SPLC shared intelligence from informants with law enforcement agencies.
The SPLC argues that claim was false and known to be false because its attorneys had already provided DOJ officials with evidence showing the organization had shared intelligence with federal authorities.
According to the filing, the government later acknowledged Blanche’s statement “was erroneous.”
The motion repeatedly cites Trump’s public statements tying the prosecution to his claims about the 2020 election.
Trump posted that the SPLC was “another Democrat Hoax” and declared that if allegations against the organization were proven, “the 2020 Presidential Election should be permanently wiped from the books and be of no further force or effect!”
During a “60 Minutes” interview, Trump described the SPLC as “a total scam run by the Democrats” and falsely claimed the organization funded the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville “to make me look bad.”
According to the filing, Trump asserted that the organization’s actions “was a part of the rigging of the [2020] election.”
The SPLC argues those statements demonstrate direct evidence of political animus and retaliatory motive.
“To punish a person because he has done what the law plainly allows him to do is a due process violation ‘of the most basic sort,’” the filing states, quoting Supreme Court precedent.
The organization contends the prosecution violates both the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause because it seeks to criminalize protected speech and advocacy activities.
The filing further cites whistleblower reports referenced by CNN and congressional Democrats alleging top DOJ officials pressured prosecutors to rush the indictment despite concerns about the merits of the case.
The SPLC also alleges procedural irregularities in the investigation, asserting prosecutors decided to seek indictment before interviewing current employees or formally requesting documents from the organization.
The motion asks the court either to dismiss the indictment outright or order expanded discovery into communications among DOJ officials, White House personnel and federal agencies involved in the case.
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“SPLC SEEKS DISMISSAL OF FEDERAL INDICTMENT”
Surprise, surprise, what did anyone expect the SPLC to do or try?
In other words, as another commenter often says, “SUN HOT”.
Doesn’t mean they are wrong
The SPLC has lost a ton of credibility with these latest disclosures.
For me they showed their true colors when they labelled M4L an “anti-government extremist group”.
Immaterial
Boo hoo.
They are an anti-government extremist group. Their whole premise (“parents rights”) is idiotic.
Sorry. Completing the base biological function of contributing biological material and producing a kid doesn’t confer any magical knowledge on how to raise or educate a child. They need to keep their long pointed noses out of schools’ business.
Period.
That’s what experts were for until these idiots started going after the experts.
It is extremist to expect schools to change to suit these pearl-clutching parents. They should just remove their children from public school. That has always been the way. Until M4L. They are extremists. Just becuase you refuse to acknowledge it doesn’t make it any less true.
And where are *the other parent’s rights* (who are the majority, BTW) in all of this?
M4L don’t seem to care. The media has asked them and none of the bozos have any response to that question.
Because there is no reasonable response they can muster.
And they know it in their ignorant little hearts.
I appreciate your support for following my every comment but if my comment is as David says “immaterial” so is your’s. Have a nice day. 😘
A nothingburger.
That’s what I thought.
Have the day you deserve. Your little “joke” is pathetic.
And it doesn’t cover up that you have no sustance to offer here.
“And it doesn’t cover up that you have no substance to offer here.”
But yet you still hang on my every word. 😂
So much for Trump’s good people on both sides bullshit.
Immaterial.
The SPLC paid an informant who was involved in organizing the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.
How hideous is that…