National Urban League President Marc Morial on Thursday condemned the Department of Justice's indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), calling it a "nakedly political" maneuver aimed at dismantling decades of civil rights work.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced charges Tuesday alleging the nonprofit funded extremist hate groups through a paid informant program. The indictment claims the SPLC paid informants to gather intelligence on neo-Nazi groups, the Ku Klux Klan, and other white supremacist and antisemitic organizations.
"The indictment is nakedly political, and it's the Justice Department turning on itself," Morial said on MSNBC's Morning Joe. He noted that federal law enforcement had long collaborated with the SPLC to identify hate groups and domestic terrorists, but recently canceled that relationship.
"So the government has been intimately involved in what the Southern Poverty Law Center has done, which has been an important public service, and that is to ferret out these hate groups, these domestic terrorist groups, these antisemitic groups," Morial added.
The SPLC annually publishes a hate report tracking extremist groups across the U.S. Its now-defunct informant program provided insight into the strategies of organizations promoting hate crimes. The nonprofit faces six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Interim CEO and President Bryan Fair vehemently denied the allegations. "We are outraged by the false allegations levied against SPLC – an organization that for 55 years has stood as a beacon of hope fighting white supremacy and various forms of injustice to create a multi-racial democracy where we can all live and thrive," Fair said in a statement. "Taking on violent hate and extremist groups is among the most dangerous work there is, and we believe it is also among the most important work we do. To be clear, this program saved lives."
Morial framed the indictment as part of a broader pattern by the Trump administration to target civil rights organizations and political opponents. He pointed to recent efforts to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey, both of whom investigated President Trump. This echoes Senator Schumer's accusations that the DOJ is being weaponized against political adversaries.
"This Justice Department, once again, is furthering this pattern and practice of an assault on civil rights through frivolous, politically motivated indictments. Think of Comey. Think of the attorney general in New York. Think of these. This is a continuation, indeed, of that pattern," Morial said.
The indictment comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions and debates over domestic security. Critics argue the DOJ's move undermines efforts to combat hate groups, while supporters of the indictment claim it addresses alleged financial misconduct.
