A CRC history of Southern Poverty Law Center controversies

Never a stranger to controversy, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has been indicted on federal fraud charges. An NPR report from yesterday explained the situation:

WASHINGTON — The Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted Tuesday on federal fraud charges alleging it improperly raised millions of dollars to secretly pay leaders of the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups for inside information, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.

The Justice Department alleges the civil rights group defrauded donors by using their money to fund the very extremism it claimed to be fighting, with more than $3 million paid to informants through a now-defunct program to infiltrate white supremacist and other extremist groups. Prosecutors allege some of the money was used by extremists to carry out other crimes, but court papers did not include specific examples.

“The SPLC was not dismantling these groups. It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred,” Blanche said.

The Capital Research Center and InfluenceWatch have reported comprehensively on the SPLC and its controversies for more than a dozen years. Some examples are provided below.

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The Southern Poverty Law Center is biased — and extraordinarily wealthy

September 2025

The controversial activist group has also become phenomenally wealthy, with an endowment rivaling prominent universities and annual revenues exceeding some of the most well-known charities in the country.

SPLC’s “Charitable” Wealth: And its costs.

July 2025

To the extent Americans are familiar with the group, it is probably for its “hate map,” which notoriously lumps Klansmen, neo-Nazis, and other genuine extremists alongside mainstream conservative and religious organizations. It also conspicuously neglects to track extremist groups on the left, perhaps most glaringly under its suspiciously sparse antisemitism category.

SPLC Blames Trump for Rise in Violent Black Nationalist Groups

January 2020

On the SPLC website is a petition with the headline, “TELL PRESIDENT TRUMP TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE HATE HE’S UNLEASHED.” The SPLC routinely publishes a press release titled “Hate in the White House,” summarizing what the SPLC asserts are “instances of extremism in the Trump administration” during each month. The SPLC recently published leaked emails from White House advisor Stephen Miller and created a petition to demand his removal for supporting what they call white nationalists and white supremacy. Searching for “Trump” returns over 1,936 results on the SPLC website, as of this writing.

VIDEO: The Southern Poverty Law Center No Longer Serves Its Original Purpose

August 2017

The Southern Poverty Law Center is an organization that has so succeeded in pushing bigots out of the mainstream, that now over 40 years after their founding, they need to constantly find new bigots inside the mainstream to fight against. When there aren’t many left, that means dangerously expanding who is called a bigot.

The SPLC’s No Good, Very Bad Day

June 2018

After being falsely labeled an “anti-Muslim extremist” in an SPLC field guide, British activist Maajid Nawaz—himself a practicing Muslim and former member of the Islamic extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir—sued SPLC over libel, winning $3.4 million.

Grants to SPLC and DEI Demonstrate Federal Spending Against Taxpayer Values

February 2025

But the State Department thought Brooks and her “poverty” named employer needed your money as well. On April 12, 2021, it shipped out an $800 “honorarium” grant for Brooks. Then in November 2021, another grant of $7,700 from State to SPLC was approved with this in the grant description: “LECIA BROOKS IS A TARGET-OF-OPPORTUNITY SPEAKER.”

Infiltrated: The Ideological Capture of Homelessness Advocacy

October 2025

While primarily focused on civil rights, the SPLC also engages in homelessness policy by submitting amicus filings that oppose enforcement. They have connections to networks previously documented in CRC reports regarding pro-Hamas activism crossovers. SPLC has filed briefs against statutes criminalizing solicitation by the homeless, arguing that such laws exacerbate poverty cycles.

Guidestar Drops SPLC’s Fake ‘Hate Group’ Label

June 2017

So finally at the end of last week, Guidestar backed down, announcing it would cease using the dishonest SPLC labels. It claimed its decision was motivated by both its “commitment to objectivity” and concerns for its staff’s “wellbeing.”

We certainly hope any “harassment and threats” Guidestar is suffering ends. But we can’t help noticing that SPLC targets like social scientist Charles Murray and the Family Research Council have already received vastly worse harassment—a violent protest and an attempted mass murder, respectively—which is why it was outrageous for Guidestar to pile on SPLC’s innocent victims in the first place.

SPLC Amasses Half-A-Billion Dollars

April 2018

The far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) ended the last tax year with close to a half billion dollars – $477 million in assets – after taking in an astounding $136 million that year, the group acknowledges in a new IRS filing.

Smearing Conservatives, Raking in Cash: The Southern Poverty Law Center’s well-funded mission to delegitimize conservative voices.

August 2012

The Southern Poverty Law Center has been at this game a long time, making money by smearing conservatives. It is so fabulously wealthy that it stashes money in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, two of those tax haven countries the Left keeps complaining about. In addition to those foreign accounts, in its most recent publicly available tax return the SPLC discloses an absolutely astounding $238.1 million in net assets.

Southern Poverty Law Center: Wellspring of Manufactured Hate

October 2012

The Southern Poverty Law Center began with an admirable purpose but long ago transformed into a machine for raising money and launching left-wing political attacks. Lately it’s become more of a threat to free speech and civil debate than a defender of the weak or a foe of violent extremism. It has also taken in millions from the Picower Foundation, whose own funds came largely from founder Jeffry Picower’s “investing” in his old friend Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.

Media accounts of CRC work on SPLC:

The Hill— The SPLC is biased — and extraordinarily wealthy

The Washington Times— Southern Poverty Law Center accused of union-busting after firing more than 60 workers: SPLC President Margaret Huang makes more than $500,000 a year in salary and benefits

Nonprofit Quarterly—Conservatives Attack Nonprofits on Capitol Hill

The Daily Signal—Left-Wing Nonprofits Lose Massive Funding Partner

Washington Examiner—Trump resolves to go after organizations that foment ‘political violence.’ Experts weigh in on what that could mean

Daily Mail—REVEALED: The secret George Soros network ‘behind America’s street chaos’… and the dossier that shows how to stop it

Daily Wire—Leftist Groups Exploit The Homelessness Crisis To Push ‘Anti-American Ideologies,’ Watchdog Says

The Patriot Post—When ‘Helping’ the Homeless Is Harmful: A new report reveals that much of the money spent helping people living on the streets actually ends up funding a left-wing “Homeless Industrial Complex.”

The Federalist—Report: Radical Leftist Groups Perpetuate Homeless Crisis For Their Own Benefit

Other reference materials:

InfluenceWatch profiles: Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Morris Dees (founder of SPLC)

Other CRC reports referencing and reporting on SPLC.

Source: https://capitalresearch.org/article/a-crc-history-of-southern-poverty-law-center-controversies/