Trump administration prosecutors frame payments to informants as criminal conduct, a claim advocates call a dangerous rewrite of anti-hate work.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s criminal case against the Southern Poverty Law Center marks a stunning escalation in the federal government’s attacks and aggression toward civil rights organizations. A grand jury has indicted the SPLC on charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering—allegations the organization has called false and politically motivated.
The charges are based on bad-faith characterizations of payments SPLC made to informants in extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Trump’s DOJ is attempting to argue these payments counted as financial support. In reality, the SPLC’s work helped dismantle some of the country’s most prominent white supremacist groups.
SPLC interim CEO Bryan Fair called the charges “false,” defending the organization’s work investigating extremist violence. “Taking on violent hate and extremist groups is among the most dangerous work there is,” he said. “To be clear, this program saved lives.”
For feminist and civil rights groups, the indictment is the clearest sign yet of an escalating campaign to intimidate the nonprofit sector, criminalize civil rights advocacy and silence dissent. In their view, the administration is not only attacking outcomes or messages, but working to turn the machinery of government itself against advocacy groups: criminal law, regulatory scrutiny and national security frameworks.
The Trump administration’s attack on SPLC also signals a broader shift in how “extremism” is being defined and deployed. Civil liberties advocates warn that the same frameworks now being used against the SPLC could be used to target immigrants’ rights groups, racial justice organizers, reproductive rights advocates and others—blurring the line between dissent and so-called “domestic terrorism.” The danger is not only the substance of the indictment, they argue, but the precedent it sets: civil rights enforcement and federal power inverted against the very communities they were meant to protect.
For feminist organizations, the stakes are also life-and-death. The SPLC is not only a racial justice institution; it is part of a broader ecosystem that has long tracked violent extremism, including antiabortion networks that have targeted clinics (through threats, bombings, arsons, shootings and invasions), killed providers and injured patients. At the same time Trump’s DOJ is pursuing the SPLC, it has scaled back protections for abortion providers against this type of coordinated violence. In Trump’s America, antiabortion violence is minimized, clinic protections are weakened, reproductive rights are under sustained attack, and groups that monitor extremist threats are put on defense.
The DOJ’s move was met with a swift and unified response from across the civil rights and feminist landscape. After all, an attack on one legacy nonprofit is a warning shot to the rest. Undermining organizations that monitor violent hate groups, advocates warn, is a threat to public safety that puts women, immigrants, Black communities, Jewish communities and abortion providers at greater risk.
Below, leaders across the feminist and civil rights movements respond to the indictment and break down its far-reaching implications.
Feminist Majority Foundation (publisher of Ms.)
“The Feminist Majority Foundation condemns the indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an alarming escalation of the Trump DOJ’s efforts to target organizations that defend civil rights and expose extremist violence.
“For decades, the SPLC has documented hate groups, including playing a critical role in identifying antiabortion extremist networks such as the so-called Army of God, whose violence has targeted clinics, providers and patients. The fact that the same administration responsible for pardoning 23 extremists convicted of violently blockading abortion clinics would now seek to prosecute an organization helping to expose and prevent such violence should alarm everyone committed to the rule of law and public safety.
“This DOJ’s persecution of political enemies and civil rights bulwarks like the SPLC undermines the very foundation of our democracy.
“At a time of escalating attacks on reproductive freedom and rising threats against women and providers, efforts to intimidate civil rights organizations put lives at risk. The Feminist Majority Foundation stands with the SPLC and will continue to defend gender and racial equality, reproductive rights and the fundamental freedoms these attacks seek to erode.”
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
“Yesterday’s indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center continues the Trump administration’s campaign of intimidation against those who stand up to racialized oppression. It threatens to undermine advocacy groups confronting white supremacy that harms Black communities and other historically targeted groups.
“SPLC is a leading authority on organized hate groups and undertakes the complex and often dangerous work of investigating and exposing these networks. Its outstanding record of tracking and addressing hate belies the misguided premise of the indictment—that SPLC was somehow supporting the very hate groups it has long helped to discredit and dismantle.
“The DOJ’s actions are wrong and part of a broader effort to intimidate organizations working to advance civil rights, strengthen our democracy, and hold bad actors accountable. SPLC has long been an invaluable partner to the Lawyers’ Committee in our shared work to discredit and dismantle systemic racism and organized hate. The Lawyers’ Committee has successfully challenged white supremacy in the courtroom, suing multiple groups that espouse anti-Black, anti-Semitic, and other racist ideologies. In no way does SPLC support or exemplify those groups or their hateful beliefs. The administration’s suggestion to the contrary is both reckless and dangerous.
“The American people know what is really happening here. DOJ is attempting to turn civil rights protections on their head to intimidate organizations like the SPLC from making meaningful progress toward achieving true racial justice in this country. The Lawyers’ Committee stands in solidarity with the SPLC as it confronts these baseless allegations.”
Cassandra Burke Robertson, director of the Center for Professional Ethics at Case Western Reserve University law school
“The conduct at the core of the indictment, paying confidential sources inside violent extremist groups to gather intelligence, is something federal law enforcement does as a matter of course. Charging a civil rights organization criminally for doing the same thing, in this political context, strikes me as an abuse of the criminal law.
“I actually think that SPLC donors are likely to be very supportive of its work, including its past use of confidential informants, and that publicity of the matter may actually increase public support for the SPLC.”
Joyce Vance
“Here’s the central thesis of the case: The Justice Department wants us to believe that one of the nation’s leading civil rights groups… is actually supporting racism and domestic terror.
“The indictment rises or falls on one faulty premise: that you should look only at one piece of SPLC’s work to infiltrate these dangerous groups, not at their overall efforts to dismantle them.
“DOJ uses tunnel vision to convince people—because that’s what this indictment is about, convincing the public before the case ever gets to trial—that the Southern Poverty Law Center is responsible for everything from the tragic violence at the Charlottesville ‘Unite The Right’ Rally … to, well, who knows what all.
“If you want to learn about white supremacists, you have to go and talk to them. You can’t get the information you need from the outsiders. You need access to people who are not choirboys. SPLC obtained it. And then used it for precisely the purpose they told donors they were going to use it for.
“This indictment is a warning … It’s a message of intimidation … if you align yourself against us, we can take you down. In essence, this indictment is about protecting domestic terror groups from exposure, not about prosecuting a real crime that SPLC committed.”
Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF)
“The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) stands in solidarity with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and civil rights organizations across the country following the U.S. Department of Justice’s indictment of SPLC. Civil rights organizations ensure that all people can live, work, vote, and be themselves free from hate and discrimination, yet we are witnessing efforts to undermine these protections, target organizations doing this critical work, and rewrite the meaning of civil rights.
“For more than 50 years, SPLC has documented hate, challenged extremism, and defended vulnerable communities—including the Sikh American community—and actions like this raise serious concerns about efforts to weaken civil rights and silence those who speak out. These attacks have real consequences: civil rights organizations protect the right to vote and protest, fight discrimination, and support communities in need, and undermining them threatens the daily lives and safety of millions. SALDEF remains committed to defending civil rights and standing with our partners in the fight for justice.”
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
“The Southern Poverty Law Center has spent the past 50 years as one of the nation’s most critical bulwarks against the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups. That the same administration that has gone out of its way to pardon white supremacists and other extremists for seditious conspiracy would then accuse SPLC of backing these groups would be laughable if it weren’t so terrifying. SPLC has explained that its use of paid informants to infiltrate hate groups was used to gain invaluable information later shared with state and federal law enforcement, including the very same Justice Department now investigating the organization.
“This is yet another attempt by the Trump administration to rewrite American history, prosecute dissent and erode the civil rights of millions of Americans. By going after SPLC like this, it is clear who the administration supports in the fight against white nationalism.”
Constitutional Accountability Center
“Yesterday’s indictment should alarm anyone who cares about the rights and freedoms of all Americans. For over 50 years, the Southern Poverty Law Center has documented violence and hate, playing a key role in a civil rights movement that has strengthened our nation. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that a presidential administration helmed by a man who has offered clemency to members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers would now go after the nonprofit organization that monitors such dangerous extremist groups. Our Constitution and our nation’s laws, including our nation’s civil rights statutes, have long depended upon civil society groups to make real the law’s promises—including the promise that people can work, vote, and live free of discrimination and fear. We are all less safe when groups that do such critical work are targeted and intimidated.”
National Urban League
“The National Urban League condemns in the strongest possible terms the indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a dangerous escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign to target and undermine the civil rights movement.
“Let’s be clear: This is not about accountability. It is about intimidation. It is about silencing organizations that have spent decades confronting hate, protecting communities, and advancing justice. SPLC is a valued member of the Demand Diversity Roundtable, which the National Urban League convenes. Its work, documenting extremism, exposing violence, and defending civil rights, has made this country safer and more just. Targeting that work is a direct attack on the core values we stand for: equal opportunity, racial justice, and the right of all people to live free from violence and fear. This moment does not stand alone. It is part of a broader effort to criminalize civil rights advocacy, distort truth, and punish those who challenge power. And it is no coincidence. These attacks come as the Administration faces mounting failures, including a weakened economy, an unjust and unlawful war, and a steady stream of ethics scandals and instability at the highest levels of government. Even federal law enforcement leadership is under scrutiny, with serious questions about the conduct and fitness of FBI Director Kash Patel and the firing of Attorney General Pam Bondi. This is a distraction strategy, and a dangerous one. The civil rights community stands united. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced. And we will not stand by while this Administration seeks to dismantle the institutions that safeguard our rights. The National Urban League stands shoulder to shoulder with SPLC. And together we will meet this moment as we always have: undaunted, unafraid, and unyielding in the fight for our rights and our democracy.”
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
“Civil society is under attack as the administration weaponizes the federal government against those with whom they disagree, while normalizing extremism and gutting the very programs we have to counter it—and it puts Jewish and so many other communities at risk of violence.
“As today’s attack on the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) shows, groups that protect civil rights and counter violent extremism are being criminalized by this Administration. None of us can afford to be silent. SPLC is a valued partner whose work has directly made our communities safer. I saw this firsthand in my work on the successful lawsuit against the neo-Nazis responsible for the violence in Charlottesville—which built on SPLC’s long legacy. SPLC’s work is even more essential now as this administration severely scales back or abandons the programs we rely on to stop violent white supremacists and other extremists.
“At a moment of rising antisemitism and broader extremism, the Administration should focus on how to protect our communities from these threats, not attack the very organizations and infrastructure whose work helps keep us safe in the first place.”
National Organization for Women (NOW)
“The National Organization for Women (NOW) is proud to stand in solidarity with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The Trump administration’s indictment of SPLC is a shocking abuse of power, designed by a Justice Department that has lost its way to serve not the law, but the whims and grievances of a tyrant. SPLC was doing exactly what its supporters and donors want and expect—exposing hate and dismantling the networks that support extremism. But the Trump Administration sides with hate speech over free speech, and wants to shut SPLC down for being on the side of justice. We know why SPLC is being targeted—and that any group that is challenging the Trump agenda may be next. NOW is proud to be part of a nonprofit community that is true to the values, principles and laws that unite us as citizens of a democracy—and we will always fight those who would tear those standards down.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)
“Todd Blanche and Kash Patel are trying to turn back the clock to the infamous days of J. Edgar Hoover targeting Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders. The Trump administration has brought this paper-thin indictment for one reason: the Southern Poverty Law Center has a long history of exposing violent white supremacist extremists who are allies of this White House. I am confident that this vindictive prosecution will fail, just like the administration’s other efforts to target the President’s political enemies.”
Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
“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. An attack on one is an attack on all. We will share knowledge, resources, and support with any organization threatened by abuses of power. What should trouble any lover of liberty is that the right has had SPLC and other civil rights groups in its crosshairs for some time. This administration has been explicit about punishing anyone it perceives as an enemy and that is definitely how it perceives civil rights groups. It has now gone so far as to [indict] a mainstream civil rights organization that tracks hate, fights for voting rights and fights for work that pays and healthy care access, with crimes.”
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign
“The Southern Poverty Law Center has spent decades protecting Americans from fascism and white supremacy and ensuring we can all live our lives free from discrimination and hate. It’s thus not surprising that they are now the target of the Trump administration and its politicized Department of Justice, which stands for everything the SPLC fights against. But it should deeply concern every American when any administration–be it Democrat or Republican–can weaponize an agency against a civil rights non-profit simply because they disagree with their aims. They are trying to intimidate SPLC and all civil rights organizations from speaking out and doing our work.
“If they can come for one of us, they can come for all of us. We stand with SPLC and all of our colleagues advancing civil rights in these trying times. Our work is more important now than ever.”
League of Women Voters
“The Department of Justice’s indictment is a declaration of war on the civil rights movement. This is a malicious attempt to criminalize advocacy and clear the path for absolute power. By targeting the SPLC, this administration is declaring that anyone who confronts hate and discrimination does so at their own peril. This is a total inversion of justice. While this administration pardons insurrectionists, it weaponizes the federal government against an organization that has fought the Klan and Christian nationalism for over 50 years.
“They are rewriting history to make civil rights work itself look like a crime. We are not fooled. This is about dismantling the protections that allow marginalized communities to exist. When you attack the organizations working to end unjust imprisonment and fighting against discrimination, you attack the heartbeat of American democracy. The administration’s strategy is simple: intimidation. The League of Women Voters and our partners across the movement will not be intimidated. An attack on one is an attack on all Americans.”
Anthony Romero, director of the ACLU
“The investigation into the Southern Poverty Law Center is yet another example of the Trump administration’s extreme attempts to silence its critics. This administration’s continued weaponization of the Justice Department to target organizations speaking out against its agenda is anti-American behavior harkening back to the McCarthy era.
“The ACLU stands in solidarity with the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC’s work fighting hate, racism, and injustice in the American South has played a critical role in strengthening the civil rights of millions of Americans. While the Trump administration may not agree with the SPLC’s civil rights mission or work, its efforts to target the organization are fundamentally wrong. The Trump administration’s attack against the Southern Poverty Law Center is a direct threat to the values that make America great. In this time of unprecedented peril for our democracy, we urge all Americans of good conscience to join us as we stand in support of the Southern Poverty Law Center.”
Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC)
“These charges are not about transparency—this is about political retaliation against a civil rights organization that challenges the administration’s power and its hateful agenda.
“The Southern Poverty Law Center has spent decades exposing hate and bigotry to protect our communities from violence. This is an organization that is actively fighting terrorism, not stoking it. To suggest otherwise is reprehensible; to weaponize our government against it is a blatant misuse of executive power.
“This is what fascism looks like, and the message is clear: Bow to us, or you will be targeted. Let’s not forget, this indictment is coming from the same administration that pardoned Jan. 6 insurrectionists and protects sexual abusers. This administration does not suddenly care about reining in extremism—all it cares about is taking down a civil rights organization that it views as a threat. We stand firmly behind the Southern Poverty Law Center and the critical role it plays in keeping our communities safe and our democracy intact.”
Vera Institute of Justice
“Today, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice indicted theSouthern Poverty Law Center. We at the Vera Institute of Justice are in full solidarity with SPLC and condemn this action unequivocally.
“This is not an isolated event. It is a coordinated effort to eliminate organizations that train poll workers, fight discrimination, run food banks, and staff domestic violence hotlines—the people who make sure everyone can live, love, vote, and simply be themselves, free from hate and discrimination. SPLC has spent five decades documenting hate and fighting it. That work has saved lives.Silence right now is a choice—and we’re choosing to speak.”
