Trump administration’s indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center breaks with norms – and may lack evidence of criminal wrongdoing

It’s unusual for federal authorities to take this kind of action when federal funding is not involved. And the SPLC does not accept government grants.

By: Beth Gazley, Indiana University, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: April 24, 2026

Words: 1,321

Last Updated: 3 months, 1 week ago

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By Beth Gazley, Indiana University

The Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted on April 21, 2026, on federal fraud charges. The Justice Department alleges that the civil rights group known as the SPLC improperly raised millions of dollars to secretly pay leaders of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist and extremist groups for inside information.

The Justice Department alleges that the SPLC, based in Montgomery, Alabama, and founded in 1971,

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