Civil rights groups condemn Southern Poverty Law Center's indictment and
prepare for legal fights
[April 24, 2026]
By MATT BROWN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The criminal indictment of the Southern Poverty Law
Center this week was met with much outrage but little surprise from
civil rights leaders, who have for more than a year prepared for
heightened legal scrutiny from the Trump administration, and how to
mount a coordinated response.
In rounds of calls immediately following the indictment, advocates
discussed how to support the SPLC, a Montgomery, Alabama-based civil
rights group founded in 1971 that has tracked white supremacist groups
and been outspoken on voting rights, immigration and policing.
Organizers on one call agreed that winning in the court of public
opinion would be crucial as judicial proceedings began, leading to
dozens of public statements of support and planned rallies.
And legal advisors to civil rights groups urged organizers to prepare
for similar criminal indictments, protracted legal action that may
exhaust their resources and audits of their staff and internal
documents.
The flurry of behind-the-scenes coordination represented a marked
mobilization by activist groups that, like many universities, law firms
and non-profits, have been at odds with the federal government since
President Donald Trump's return to the White House last year.
“There’s a muscle that has been built among these organizations learned
from the law firm debacle,” said Vanita Gupta, a former associate
attorney general of the Justice Department during the Biden
administration, referring to deals some major law firms made with the
administration. Gupta led one of the calls that convened activists.
“The government's goal is often to shut down and paralyze an
organization, so that their work has to stop while they defend
themselves. And the hope here is that with this broad effort to defend
the SPLC, that will not happen,” said Gupta.
Organizers say they are prepared to back the SPLC in its legal fight.
“It’s a blatantly obvious attack on civil rights and civil liberties to
whitewash the foot soldiers of the great replacement theory and other
extremists. This coalition isn’t going silent,” said Maya Wiley,
president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human
Rights, an umbrella organization of hundreds of civil rights groups.
Without addressing the indictment, a coalition of more than 100 activist
groups on Tuesday published a letter vowing solidarity with groups that
are “unjustly targeted” by the federal government. SPLC was a signatory
to the pact.
“An attack on one is an attack on all,” the coalition declared. “We will
share knowledge, resources, and support with any organization threatened
by abuses of power.”
DOJ alleges criminal conduct in SPLC's longtime informant network
The Justice Department alleges that the SPLC, which rose to prominence
for its work prosecuting and tracking hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan,
violated federal law through its network of paid informants in extremist
groups. The DOJ claims the payments funded hate groups and misled the
SPLC’s donors.
The SPLC now faces charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to
commit money laundering in the case brought in the federal court in
Alabama, where the organization is based.
“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” said Acting
Attorney General Todd Blanche at a press conference announcing the
charges. Blanche promised the department “will hold the SPLC and every
other fraudulent organization operating with the same deceptive playbook
accountable.”
Longtime civil rights activists found the claims to be a disingenuous
and partisan move that may empower extremist groups.
“The indictment is nakedly political and represents the Justice
Department turning on itself,” said Marc Morial, president of the
National Urban League. “It places the Justice Department in the posture
of, in effect, defending white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan
and others.”
Advocates also view the indictment as part of the administration's
broader upending of civil rights law and the Justice Department's
prosecution of Trump's political opponents.
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche listens during a news
conference at the Justice Department, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The SPLC in recent years became a bogeyman among conservatives who
resented that the watchdog designated several rightwing
organizations that engage in Republican politics as hateful or
extremist.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, which the
SPLC has designated as a hate group, said the government should not
only pursue convictions, but also restitution for those the SPLC has
harmed.
“For years, the SPLC has used its platform to label and target
organizations with whom it disagrees, often blurring the line
between legitimate concern and ideological attack,” Perkins said in
a statement. “That kind of reckless characterization doesn’t just
damage reputations, it has put lives at risk.”
In October, FBI Director Kash Patel cancelled the agency’s longtime
anti-extremism partnerships with the SPLC and the Anti-Defamation
League, which combats antisemitism. Patel at the time called the
SPLC a “partisan smear machine.”
The Justice Department and SPLC did not respond to requests for
comment.
Indictment represents marked shift for civil rights work
Advocates dispute the DOJ's characterization of the SPLC's work.
“The problem is that the indictment essentially claims that it was a
fraud on SPLC’s donors to use their funds to fight the Klan, the Neo
Nazis and other white supremacist groups, when that is exactly why
people gave to the organization,” said Norm Eisen, founder of
Democracy Defenders Action, a group that works with organizations in
legal disputes with the Trump administration.
Eisen added: “The notion that there’s something wrong with using
informants and protecting their identities to prevent white
supremacist violence is belied by the fact that that is not only
what the SPLC did, but it is also the stock and trade of the FBI
itself.”
Civil rights organizations are now preparing for further legal
action. Organizations have reviewed their document retention, tax
compliance and auditing policies over the last year to safeguard
against any probes or lawsuits.
Some civil rights organizations have also floated creating new
organizational structures that may better withstand legal scrutiny.
On another recent call, activists floated restructuring some groups
into for-profit entities, or potentially crafting new financial
conduits for donors to ensure that staff could receive pay if an
organization's assets were seized or frozen.
The preparations represent a marked shift for many civil rights
leaders, who in recent years counted the Justice Department under
both Democratic and Republican administrations as a reliable ally in
key civil rights battles.
“What we are seeing in real time is an administration seeking to
leverage its position to target individuals and organizations that
do not agree with its political thought,” said NAACP President
Derrick Johnson, who said the Justice Department has been
“weaponized by dangerous forces."
But for other leaders, the SPLC indictment raised the specter of a
return to a previous era, when the Justice Department monitored
civil rights leaders to disrupt their activities.
“We're not backing down, but we are clear-eyed. Everyone could be in
some form of jeopardy if you're in the crosshairs of this
administration,” said Juan Proaño, CEO of the League of United Latin
American Citizens, a civil rights group suing the Trump
administration over executive orders addressing birthright
citizenship and mail-in voting.
“That's what they’re looking for; they want this to have a chilling
effect," Proaño said.
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