For decades, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has worked to subvert American life and values through far-left political action, education, and legal initiatives. Their operatives have lashed out at pro-family, Christian, and parents’ rights groups, labeling them “hate groups” and listing them on their infamous “hate map.” Now, the SPLC stands accused of channeling millions of dollars into the alleged right-wing extremist “hate” groups it claims to so vigorously oppose.

The U.S. Justice Department announced on April 21 that a federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama, returned an indictment charging the SPLC with “11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the SPLC stands accused of “manufacturing racism to justify its existence. Using donor money to allegedly profit off Klansmen cannot go unchecked,” Blanche said. “This Department of Justice will hold the SPLC and every other fraudulent organization operating with the same deceptive playbook accountable. No entity is above the law.”

The indictment alleges that while the SPLC has claimed for decades to be promoters of racial justice by dismantling “white supremacy,” supporting the LGBT agenda, and advancing “the human rights of all people,” it has since 1980 been operating “a covert network of individuals who were either associated with violent and extremist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, or who had infiltrated violent extremist groups at the SPLC’s direction.” It states that “unbeknownst to donors,” some of their money “was being used to fund the leaders and organizers of racist groups” at the same time the SPLC was publicly denouncing these groups.

The indictment further charges that the SPLC’s objective “was to obtain money via donations through materially false representations and omissions about what the donated funds would be used for.” It asserts that the organization “opened bank accounts connected to a series of fictitious entities” to disguise the fraudulently obtained donations with which it paid the individual recruits. “In order to keep the scheme going,” the indictment continues, “the SPLC made a series of false statements related to the operation of the accounts.”

Understandably, conservative organizations that have been victims of the SPLC’s vengefulness and false accusations for years are rejoicing.

Alliance Defending Freedom’s news and commentary editor, Bryan Chai, called the grand jury indictment “sweeping” and observed that the SPLC, the self-proclaimed “catalyst for racial justice” which aims to “dismantle white supremacy,” was charged with “directly putting money into the pockets of groups like the Ku Klux Klan.”

Tina Descovich, president of Moms for Liberty, said when the news broke:

• Of course I’m not surprised by what they are doing. We’ve been a victim of their dishonest, immoral and highly effective tactics almost since our inception. We started with $500 and we were up against their HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of dollars. I’d love an opportunity to testify to the attacks, threats, cyber attacks, cancellations, and more that we have experienced because of them. What does surprise me is that they may now ACTUALLY be held accountable.

Descovich pointed out that the SPLC has “put a target on the back of every mom that wants to stand up and speak out on behalf of her child and we take that very seriously.... If it is now ‘hate’ or ‘extreme’ or ‘antigovernment’ to ask questions of public education officials, what does that say about parents’ ability to be involved in their children’s education?”

While it seems the tables may have finally turned on the SPLC, conservative groups should not be overly optimistic. The mainstream media has rallied to their defense, and left-leaning organizations insist the Justice Department’s case is “weak” and “politically motivated.”

The New York Times framed it with these words: “How the SPLC drew the ire of conservatives.” And an op-ed in The Hill contends that the government’s theory behind the indictment “is flawed,” and called the SPLC “a venerable civil rights organization known for relentlessly fighting against White supremacist groups.” The article claims the SPLC “was almost certainly targeted because it called out hate speech by right-wing groups, not due to any legitimate law enforcement priority.”

Other mainstream media outlets have chimed in supportively as well, as for decades they have cited the far-left group’s findings as gospel. From 2007 until last fall, the FBI also considered the SPLC a reliable source on the topic of “hate” crime.

But as songwriter Bob Dylan penned in 1964, “the times they are a-changin.’” In October 2025, ADF’s Chai wrote that despite SPLC’s pretense at nobility, it “is a discredited and scandal-ridden group that one of its own employees once described as ‘a highly profitable scam.’”

Chai noted that the SPLC’s “hate group” labels have “real-world consequences” rather than merely being “smear tactics,” and that they are “made so much worse when you realize just how influential—both to law enforcement and to everyday people—these labels turned out to be, the FBI included.”

His article referenced a letter directed to White House Domestic Policy Council Director, Vince Haley, and signed by representatives of nine organizations victimized by the SPCL, including Moms for Liberty, Alliance Defending Freedom, Turning Point Action, the Family Research Council, Gays Against Groomers, American Cornerstone Institute, WallBuilders, and New Discourses.

The letter pointed out that the SPLC lists “over 1400 entities” — mostly “traditional value and faith-based organizations” — on its Hate Map in addition to the letter’s signatories. (Education Reporter referenced this letter in November 2025.)

While it was written before the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the letter mentioned the SPLC’s hit piece on Turning Point USA and Charlie “for advocating for President Trump’s agenda on such issues as faith and the reality of biological sex.” The letter eerily added: “This would be laughable if the consequences of this reckless and dishonest behavior were not so deadly serious.”

Finally, the letter stated: “Enough is enough. The SPLC’s defamatory Hate Map should no longer be used by federal agencies as a fig leaf to mask discrimination against conservatives.”

On the same day the letter arrived, FBI Director Kash Patel announced a change would be forthcoming at the bureau. He acknowledged that the SPLC’s “so-called ‘hate map’ has been used to defame mainstream Americans and even inspired violence.” Finally, he stated: “Under this FBI, all ties with the SPLC have officially been terminated.”

Conservatives hope the Justice Department’s indictment against the organization will at least slow its gravy train and limit its sphere of influence once and for all.

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